Baton Rouge, LA

Baton Rouge, LA

File:Waiting on image to get sent 1 of the Whelen Engineering Model WPS-4008 sirens in Baton Rouge, LA. Photo taken by Darrel P.

Baton Rouge is the capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 census. It is the seat of East Baton Rouge Parish. Baton Rouge formerly maintained an extensive network of Federal Signal Thunderbolt Model 1000T and Model 7T sirens during the Cold War, and it was later overhauled around 2000 with new Whelen Engineering Model WPS-4004 and Model WPS-4008 sirens. Disregard for preventative maintenance and natural occurrences following the new siren implementations left many units in varying states of disrepair—Baton Rouge's already derelict siren network was formally deactivated around 2015 and abandoned by the city, and most of the sirens have remained untouched since then.

History

Baton Rouge 1st invested in sirens of the Thunderbolt Model 1000T and Model 7T variety, produced by Federal Signal, in the late 1950s or early 1960s. All known confirmed original Model 1000T locations are as follows: former Winbourne Avenue fire station, Central Fire Station/Bogan Fire Station,

wip

Around 2000, Baton Rouge purchased 17 new Model WPS-4008 sirens, 1 Model WPS-4004, and 1 Model WPS-2810 from Whelen Engineering. In order from siren #1 to siren #19, the sirens were placed at the Baker, LA water tower, Alsen Head Start School, Crestworth Middle School, Baton Rouge Fire Department Station #16, Scotlandville Middle School, Harding Boulevard and Nottingham Street, Village Street and 68th Street, E Mason Street and Bamboo Street, Monte Sano Park, Shelly Street near Exit 4 and Evangeline Street, Wyandotte Center, Pocahontas Street and Huron Street, Northdale Magnet Academy, Nicholson Elementary School, Dufrocq Elementary School, Myrtle Street and 10th Street, East Polk Street Park, US-61 N near Barnett Road (Model WPS-4004), and E Street at Southern University (Model WPS-2810). Siren #2, siren #4, siren #9, siren #15 included weather data stations to remotely monitor weather conditions in these areas. Each of the sirens are placed on a wooden or steel pole and have 2 solar panels. All of the new sirens were placed in the industrial corridor of East Baton Rouge Parish to provide coverage to areas that would be affected by an accident at 1 of the facilities north of downtown Baton Rouge, primarily ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge Refinery. The sirens were outlined under an all-purpose network used to warn of threats such as natural disasters and chemical hazards.

Some of the older civil defense sirens continued to see use after the overhaul although may have been part of a network separate of the industrial corridor sirens. APPENDIX C

wip

Many locals have said that they last remember regularly hearing warning sirens in the Baton Rouge area in 2008 during Hurricane Gustav, which likely rendered many of the sirens nonfunctional. The upper portion of siren a. was knocked over on its side during the hurricane and abandoned. Satellite imagery indicates that the sirens were operational until sometime around 2009 or 2010, consistent with when the sirens were last used for an actual emergency. The sirens that did not survive the hurricane were presumably abandoned in place, while the sirens that still worked were presumably active but rarely used for emergencies if at all. The latest dates that the sirens were said to have been used were around 2013 or 2014. Baton Rouge's siren network was deactivated around 2015—the city cited the costliness of maintaining the sirens as the reason. All of the sirens were abandoned in place and have never been mentioned by city or parish officials since the network was shut down. Most of the sirens which were formerly used by Baton Rouge still exist, mostly in various states of disrepair. After being overtaken by kudzu, siren #18 was removed between May of 2018 and June of 2022 to make way for construction of a canal. Siren #10 was similarly covered in vegetation and toppled over between April of 2019 and April of 2022; it was quickly removed shortly thereafter.

Schedule

It is unclear if all iterations of Baton Rouge's siren network were all tested on the same date.