Sirens as fire alarms

Fire Alarm General Discussion
1

I remember seeing a photo a while ago (on either this forum or the old one), taken inside a school building, at the intersection of the old and new wings. In the new wing, there was an electronic horn/strobe (a Wheelock NS, I think). But in the old wing, you could see a red Federal Signal siren on the wall. I looked to see if the photo was still here, but to no avail.

But still I wondered whether they could have actually been fire alarms. Then, I figured since this was a siren-related question, to search on the AirRaidSirens forums to see if anyone there mentioned them. Turns out, I found a post saying that schools in Oregon that were built during the height of the Cold War (1940’s-1960’s) were often equipped with Federal Model A’s, and they were used as both fire alarms and air raid alarms. Even more interesting - they said some were still in use!

2

Doesn’t surprise me in the least. Modern coverage and rules didn’t really come about until the mid 90’s when the ada really got involved with the codes. before that people seemed to put whatever, wherever.

it’s the reason so many people on here post about how their school alarms are a nothing more than a few bells scattered around the old parts and multiple devices in every hallway in the new parts. all the old systems get grandfathered in.