Hall County, GA

Hall County, GA
One of Hall County's Modulators, with a noticeable lean. Photo courtesy of Sirens Down South
Type	Weather
Location	Hall County, GA
Status	Active
Testing dates	1st Wednesday of February, May, August, and November
Testing times	9:00 AM (Georgia Severe Weather Preparedness Week) 10:00 AM (May, August, November)

Hall County is a county in the Northeast region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 203,136. The county seat is Gainesville. Hall County maintains 23 outdoor warning sirens—3 Federal Signal Modulator Model MOD6048B sirens, 13 Model 2001-130 sirens, and 7 Whelen Engineering VORTEXR4 sirens, located strategically throughout the county.

History

It is not exactly known before December 1999 if Hall County had a siren system or not, however reports of siren installations and an entire planned system have been recorded. At least 1 Federal Sign & Signal Model 3 (C1 ½) was extant in Flowery Branch sometime in the 1970s, however no other siren locations have ever been confirmed. In March of 1973, Hall County’s civil defense director recommended to the board of commissioners that 7 sirens should be installed, 1 atop the public safety building and the rest at fire departments. It is not known as of now what sirens these could have been or if they even existed, but if they did, they were assumed to be Federal Signal Thunderbolt sirens. On March 20th, 1998, a powerful F3 tornado struck Hall County, killing 3 and demolishing the north wing of North Hall High School. The following year, Hall County purchased 10 Federal Signal Modulator Model MOD6048B sirens as a direct response to the tornado. The 1st siren was installed at North Hall High School, only a few hundred yards from where the tornado directly struck the campus.

The rest were all installed at other schools and the historical society in Clermont. In 2008, Hall County began to purchase several Model 2001-130 sirens as a supplement to the existing sirens. In 2011, the Modulator in Clermont was removed and was subsequently replaced by a Model 2001-130 at Hall County Fire Station 2. The last Model 2001-130 was installed in 2012. In December 2018, a task was brought upon Table Rock Alerting Systems and McCranie Warning Systems to replace 7 out of the 10 remaining Modulator sirens in Hall County, as many of them were already showing their age due to a lack of maintenance. In fact, the last time a service tag was dropped on a Modulator in Hall County was likely in 2003. The replacements chosen for the dilapidated Modulators were brand new Whelen VORTEXR4 sirens, of which continue to serve Hall County to this day. It is also worth noting that the UNG campus south of Gainesville owns a Federal Signal Model DSA array, along with the county owned 2001-130 on campus. Additionally, Crazy Mule Arts & Antiques was known to have been sold a Federal Sign & Signal Model D as a burglar alarm, however a field visit indicated that it was not present within the building.

Schedule

Hall County tests their sirens on the 1st Wednesdays of February at 9:00 AM (as a part of the Georgia Severe Weather Preparedness Week), and May, August, and November at 10:00 AM. Units are silent tested every day. The testing time and date is always subject to change, so it is recommended to check Hall County’s website before going to a test.