Zurich classic car siren make it to the Museum

for 35 years, she sat atop the roof of the old village school house in Stallikon. But now the alarm siren has been used. The municipality has removed and through a new, electronic model replaced. The old "Horn" but is not scrapped, but comes into the Museum for communication in Berne.

the reason for the unusual move: The siren from the Säuliamt is one of the last with a compressed air-powered sirens of Switzerland, the Federal office for population communicates protection (focp). As a major witness to the history of technology you are now in the collection of the communications Museum is a place next to a air RAID siren from the time of the Second world war.

No permit

Pneumatic sirens produce sound by compressed air is passed from a reservoir through the siren's head in several horns. The design is derived from ship horns. Today, they are a discontinued model, the Federal office for population protection, you will no longer be granted. The few remaining pneumatic sirens in Switzerland are to be replaced in the next five years, through electronic models, which are cheaper to maintain and less prone to failure.

So has changed the alarm in Switzerland in the course of time. (Click to Enlarge.) Source: Federal office for population protection

the Land of the sirens: 7200 piece

With the systematic set-up of the siren network, Switzerland has already in front of the 2. World war II started. Over the decades the web was compacted on an ongoing basis. According to the Federal office for civil protection, Switzerland currently has a network of 5000 stationary as well as 2200 mobile sirens.

This virtually seamless coverage, coupled with radio messages, forms today the backbone of the system for alerting and informing the population in case of disasters and emergencies. A year ago, the Federal government has also launched new electronic services for the alerting of the population: alarms are widely used as Push notification on Smartphones, as well as online publication on the alert for Swiss-Website.

do Not put all of the sirens

Other countries also use sirens as part of the respective concepts, but on a different level, like they say in the message of the Babs more. While Austria has a dense siren network with around 7000 sirens, disable countries such as the Netherlands or Belgium, their sirens and focus on the use of solutions such as Mobile Apps or SMS services.

Other countries that reduced their sirens after the end of the Cold war, largely or, at least, had not renewed, to recognize, however, today their Use as a last resort to alert if all the networks no longer work. Thus, for instance, hazards in Germany, the siren network in many cities again. In France, around 4000 sirens are in use, especially in critical zones around power plants or industrial plants. The French network is currently being renovated.

Created: 06.11.2019, 12:08 PM