Is there or has there been an extensive public education program on the meaning of the sirens? Could simply be the citizens are unaware of the meaning of the sirens?

In our area, most rural Fire Departments still blow the house siren routinely at noon and at other times to alert the volunteers to respond to the station or scene of an incident, so hearing one is fairly common and does not require any action by the residents. In some areas, certain siren patterns and/or length of siren may indicate some type of incident that requires the resident to take some action, but I would venture to guess with all of the relocation and growth that occurs, most of the newer residents would have no clue as to what the siren patterns indicated.

Our Fire Departments located within the larger communities no longer blow the house siren, so if it goes off it would be something of which to take notice. However, the effective distance of the sirens would most likely make them almost useless, except in the immediate area of the stations and most residents would likely be clueless as to their meaning. We simply no longer rely upon these sirens for alerting the residents.

Now, where I work at Ft. Detrick, there is a fairly extensive distribution of sirens/public announcement speakers and most workers do know to listen for the siren and any accompanying announcement. Living only a couple of blocks from the front gate, we are able to hear these from our home.

Pete