A civil defense siren is a siren used to provide an emergency population warning to the general population of approaching danger. It is sometimes sounded again to indicate the danger has passed. Some sirens are also used to call the volunteer fire department when needed. Initially designed to warn city dwellers of air raids in World War II, they were later used to warn of nuclear attack and natural destructive weather patterns such as tornadoes. The generalized nature of sirens led to many of them being replaced with more specific warnings, such as the broadcast-based Emergency Alert System and the Cell Broadcast-based Wireless Emergency Alerts and EU-Alert mobile technologies.
An alarm device is a mechanism that gives an audible, visual or other kind of alarm signal to alert someone to a problem or condition that requires urgent attention.
CONELRAD was a method of emergency broadcasting to the public of the United States in the event of enemy attack during the Cold War. It was intended to allow continuous broadcast of civil defense information to the public using radio stations, while rapidly switching the transmitter stations to make the broadcasts unsuitable for Soviet bombers that might attempt to home in on the signals.
A siren is a loud noise-making device. Civil defense sirens are mounted in fixed locations and used to warn of natural disasters or attacks. Sirens are used on emergency service vehicles such as ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks. There are two general types: pneumatic and electronic.
The four-minute warning was a public alert system conceived by the British Government during the Cold War and operated between 1953 and 1992. The name derived from the approximate length of time from the point at which a Soviet nuclear missile attack against the United Kingdom could be confirmed and the impact of those missiles on their targets. The population was to be notified by means of air raid sirens, television and radio, and urged to seek cover immediately. In practice, the warning would have been more likely three minutes or less.
An emergency population warning is a method whereby local, regional, or national authorities can contact members of the public en masse to warn them of an impending emergency. These warnings may be necessary for a number of reasons, including:
An air horn is a pneumatic device designed to create an extremely loud noise for signaling purposes. It usually consists of a source which produces compressed air, which passes into a horn through a reed or diaphragm. The stream of air causes the reed or diaphragm to vibrate, creating sound waves, then the horn amplifies the sound making it louder. Air horns are widely employed as vehicle horns, installed on large buses, semi-trailer trucks, fire trucks, trains, and some ambulances as a warning device, and on ships as a signaling device.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force is an emergency service in Singapore under the Ministry of Home Affairs that provides firefighting, technical rescue, and emergency medical services and coordinates national civil defence.
Total Defence is Singapore’s whole-of-society national defence concept, based on the premise that every aspect of society contributes to the collective defence of the state. The strategy was first introduced in 1984 and adopted from the national defence strategies of Sweden and Switzerland. It initially consisted of five key tenets; military, civil, economic, social, and psychological, with the sixth, digital, being introduced in 2019. The strategy was amplified by the government slogan: There's A Part For Everyone, with a corresponding national song named after it when first introduced.
The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO) was a British civilian organisation operating to provide UK military and civilian authorities with data on nuclear explosions and forecasts of fallout across the country in the event of nuclear war.
The National Civil Defence Cadet Corps (NCDCC) of Singapore was formed in 2005 and is currently the newest recognised member of the National Uniformed Group. The creation of this Uniformed Group was initiated by the Ministry of Home Affairs in response to the need for the young leaders of tomorrow to have a firm pillar and grounding in Singapore's firm belief of Total Defence.
The Civil Defence Auxiliary Unit (CDAU) is part of the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) consisting of uniformed volunteers.
A train horn is an extremely loud, powerful air horn that serves as an audible warning device on electric and diesel locomotives, electric or diesel power cars, and in electric and diesel multiple units. The horn's primary purpose is to alert persons and animals to an oncoming train, especially when approaching a level crossing. The horn is also used for acknowledging signals given by railroad employees, such as during switching operations.
Federal Signal Modulators are electronic warning devices produced by Federal Signal Corporation that are used to alert the public about tornadoes, severe weather, earthquakes, fires, lahars, Tsunamis, or any other disaster. They are identified mostly by their distinctive stacked "flying saucer" design. The Modulator II is sold based on the more compact chassis of the siren compared to the original Modulators.
All clear is the signal, generally given by a civil defence siren, which indicates that an air raid or other hazard has finished and that it is safe for civilians to leave their shelters; it is commonly used in radios as well.
SiraTone is a brand of electronic outdoor warning sirens produced by Federal Signal Corporation which began production in 1981. These sirens were designed to broadcast high-intensity warning signals over a large area. SiraTone products are/were used for natural disaster notification, HAZMAT incident notification, fire call systems, and more. Most of the SiraTone line was discontinued in the mid-to-late 1990s and newer designs, like the Modulator and DSA, have replaced it. The SiraTone product line is not in standard production, as of 1995. An exception to the rule, the EOWS* 612 speaker array was sold on request until the mid-2000s.
The Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System consists of two separate components, operating in tandem: Acoustic Flow Monitors (AFM) and the All Hazard Alert Broadcast (AHAB) sirens. The AFM system was developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 1998 and is now maintained by Pierce County Emergency Management. The purpose of the warning system is to assist in the evacuation of residents in the river valleys around Mount Rainier, a volcano in Washington, in the event of a lahar. Pierce County works in partnership with the USGS, the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN), Washington Military Department's Emergency Management Division, and South Sound 9-1-1 to monitor and operate the system.
American Signal Corporation is an outdoor warning siren and mass notification company in America. ASC was founded in 1942 as Biersach and Niedermeyer. Biersach and Niedermeyer wasn't receiving a lot of money on the Mobil Directro, so they reformed as The Alerting Communicators of America and manufactured a whole set of warning systems. ACA later went bankrupt and reformed as the American Signal Corporation.
The ATI Soundblaster HPSS is an electronic outdoor warning system manufactured by Acoustic Technology, Inc (ATI) that is used to alert the surrounding populace of tornadoes, hurricanes, severe thunderstorms, fires and so on. The recent HPSS systems use high-powered electronic speakers, which can be independently arranged to provide directional or omnidirectional coverage, depending on installation. The HPSS16 provides up to 1600 watts of continuous power to drive up to four 400-watt speaker units, whereas the larger 3200-watt HPSS32 can drive up to eight 400-watt speakers. Like other electronic outdoor warning systems, they can also be used as public announcement (PA) systems, and can play a number of programmed tones. Options include solar-powered operation and pre-recorded voice messages. Sometimes these high-powered speakers play the Westminster Chime.
As a major port, there is a long history of fireboats in Singapore.
