BERLIN – The Berlin Fire Company has opted not to move forward with a plan to limit the hours the town fire siren would sound.
Although Berlin Fire Company (BFC) officials approached the town in July and said they wanted to stop sounding the fire siren located atop town hall during the overnight hours, BFC President David Fitzgerald said this week the siren was still being used between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
“That was the decision of the fire company,” he said.
The only change that has occurred since a July 4 siren malfunction is that the siren located at town hall has been moved to a taller pole. Berlin Mayor Gee Williams said this fall town staff worked with the fire company to raise the siren an additional 12 to 15 feet.
“The Berlin Electric Department worked with the fire chief on site to raise the siren to a higher elevation in an attempt to dissipate the impact of the fire alarm on downtown businesses in the immediate area of town hall, especially those providing overnight accommodations for guests,” Williams said.
Williams said he had heard nothing about the issue since the change was made.
Several residents and business owners expressed their concern after the July 4 malfunction when the siren sounded for about 30 minutes at dawn. That’s when fire company officials said they wanted to limit the use of their sirens — which are located at town hall, the fire house and the water tower — to between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Fitzgerald this week however said the July 4 incident was simply a malfunction and that there had not been any complaints since the siren was moved to a taller pole.
“The only thing that happened was it was a mechanical malfunction with town equipment,” he said. “The siren was relocated higher.”
Fitzgerald said the BFC sirens serve three important purposes. He said the notify volunteer firefighters of a call, alert the public to be on the lookout for firefighters responding to an emergency and serve as part of the county’s emergency warning system.
While the sirens do serve as notice of a call, BFC members also typically receive text messages and beeper alerts notifying them of emergencies.
