Newer callout sirens may not need to be as loud nowadays. Where I grew up, in Independence, back before cell phones, they had to be heard 2 miles away. There was a siren on top of the sheriff's office, and an air horn on the roof of the main business in town. Between the two of them, especially the air horn that was blown at the end of the day shift, that did the trick.

@KeepItSimple PS
Not sure why Arrowbear E271 would activate its lights and siren code 3 at that hour with very little to done traffic? It might be department policy. I get the lights but not the siren at the hour. Do they do that for all calls late at night?

AR, the siren at BBC Fire Dept used to go off at noon every day.

As a child in Wisconsin, we used to fall asleep to train sounds and work sirens...

This is a Siren test we recorded back in 2019. It didn't work so well. You have to turn up your volume to hear what I mean....
Link: [Click Here]

Good question Razz! They used to test those monthly, but I think they all broke and were never fixed.

Speaking of weird sounding sirens, what ever happened to the warning siren that was over at the Bear City Fire Department. I only seem to remember it being turned on 1 time to test it?????

Long time ago i spent time in st.helena, the VFD there had a genuine air raid siren to summon volunteer fire staff. You could never tell when it was gonna go off and god help you if you were next to the fire department when it went off...

@KeepItSimple
If you have a chance, stop by the station and ask them about it. Curious myself.

@KeepItSimple
Confirmed that Engine 271 (Arrowbear) was dispatched at 4:46am to a Medical Aid on Deer Lick. Responded with Medic Ambulance 91 out of Lake Arrowhead. Assuming the siren you heard was the one on engine 271. Maybe they upgraded to the new air raid model of siren??

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Thanks SCM, I see the incident which triggered it. This was a siren we’ve never heard before, truly more like air raid siren than a typical fire/EMS siren. Made me grab my phone like the goal was to wake residents up and warn us about something. Hopefully a faulty siren on a piece of equipment and not a new normal.

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Sorry 4:55*, apologies had a bit of a rude awakening.

What on earth is with that new siren at Arrowbear Fire? Turned on around 4:45 and went on for over 5 minutes, turned off once they had wheels rolling and normal siren running. Can hear it clear as day in Running Springs. Are we trying to be like Bishop and summon volunteers to the station with an air raid siren or what? Because that is absolutely obnoxious.