Siren vs. Voice: Mass-Evacuation Systems Tested

MENLO PARK, CA – Fire, police and invited guests from Menlo Park and Atherton got their first look this week at a new and improved mass-evacuation system that complete the Menlo Park Fire District Board of Directors's 2018 goal to implement district-wide, audio-alertcapabilities.

On Wednesday afternoon, the five-member fire board and chief, Atherton’s police chief, a Walsh Road resident and others saw -- and heard -- the possible new system at the Bear Gulch Reservoir in Atherton, where Cal-Water, the Town of Atherton and the fire district partnered almost a decade ago to install an evacuation siren system in the event of dam failures or wildfires.

A side-by-side "sound off" was held between the existing Whalin Siren System and one from San Diego-based LRAD Corp., (Long Range Acoustic Devices), which arrived with its mobile trailer 360XT unit, according to officials.

"We’ve been looking at ways to upgrade and improve our existing system for several years now," Fire Districts Emergency Manager Ryan Zollicoffer said. "We started looking at the LRAD platforms and the enhanced versatility of fixed and mobile 360-degree systems that they provide, which allow either pre-scripted, multi-language, voice emergency messaging or instant real time messaging and information to occur after an attention tone.”

The tests started with Whalin Siren set to "dam failure" mode, emitting a more-than-110-decibel, continuous, "obnoxious" tone for longer than a minute.

While designed to get residents' attention, LRAD representatives pointed out that that most locals probably could no longer remember which siren tone meant what, and newer residents, guests and visitors would not likely understand their meaning at all.

Dubbed the Walsh Road Evacuation Siren, the system was limited by older, existing technology when first installed in 2009, officials said.

“At the time, it could only locally be compared to the abandoned World War II evacuation signaling siren system the Fire District still tested monthly when I started here in 1981,” Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said. "That system was abandoned by the County in the 1990s as the Cold War faded and the Soviet Union broke apart. So something was better than nothing, but from the start we were always looking for 'better' and could never find it, until now."

The LRAD 360 XT trailer-mounted, mobile, self-contained unit has a 30-foot telescoping mast working off a rechargeable battery pack with remote activation capabilities via the internet and cellular networks and can use either pre-scripted messages from an MP3 player in a variety of languages, or real-time communications, that can broadcast and delivered as an understandable voice message needed for mass notifications, officials said.

“The side by side test was very helpful and everyone agreed that the LRAD System completely outperformed the older siren system," Zollicoffer said. "Not only because of the voice capability, but the modular-mobility benefit is something that appeals to first responders, because it can be used for a variety of public safety purposes and better moved around if that’s needed or desired.”

“I think we just saw what 'bette'r looks like and I’m going to ask the Fire Board to fund the modular and trailered unit in this next fiscal year’s budget, so we can fully exercise its capabilities, by not only using it at various events, but also by conducting district-wide testing in all of our jurisdictions, Atherton, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, unincorporated county areas and some of our larger facilities and campuses like SLAC, Facebook, the VA Hospital, SRI, USGS and our 30 some odd school campuses, as well” Schapelhouman said.

Schapelhouman also this improved technology playing a role for local firefighters and the 28 National Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Teams sponsored by FEMA/DHS, of which the fire district is a sponsoring agency.

“Many fire agencies still use the air horns on their fire apparatus to signal that their people inside of a burning or collapsing building need to immediately evacuate. While that works, it can be problematic and a confusing technique," the chief said. "It worked to a point, but it didn’t improve much at the World Trade Center collapse. They tried to use a public-address system located on top of a high-rise building, but you could never understand what they were saying, and it sounded something like 'blah, blah, blah.'

"So at first we would all look up, but eventually no one paid attention to it anymore and they stopped using it. So we resorted back to localized, handheld air horns and that’s still primarily what we would use today," he added.

The trailered, LRAD system costs around $125,000, while fixed systems can be much less expensive depending on supporting infrastructure and intended use. The handheld and vehicle-mounted systems cost about $6,000 each, depending upon their features, officials said.

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--Image via Peter Mootz, fire Photographer for Menlo Fire