There are firehouses still utilizing antiquated sirens to notify the volunteer fire dept to a call. Keep in mind that EMS DO NOT USE THE SIREN METHOD, they use pagers only. There is a siren directly located 40 ft from my patio. When I bought my home, I was told that the siren was no longer used. Not to mention that there have been several times where it was inoperable for 6 months++, yet the fire fighters were still able to get to their calls. So if months can go by without the fire dept using the sirens then are they really that vital This is not a safe environment for our children and after obtaining a decibel reading and a letter from my childrens pediatrician, we are concerned of hearing loss as a result of these loud/ear piercing blasts. This antiquated notification system IS NOT necessary when there are clearly other methods already in use, such as alphanumeric pagers and cell phones-not to mention the reverse 911 method. This has become very public in the past couple of months in the local newspapers and on Friday 6/30/06, News12 came to my home and interviewed my family. It aired Friday evening at 10:40pm. I would also like to mention that the Police Chief and the Mayor are in full support of our requests and needs a petition to show the Fire Chief how this is effecting the town. There are 22 other townships that DO NOT USE THEM AT ALL- They solely depend on pagers!! If these towns can rely exclusively on pagers, why is this not an option for Mahwah I would also like to mention that the siren blows for non-emergency incidents as well, like New Years Eve at midnight, Super bowl and when schools are closed for snow. Also, there is no universal coverage of the township with these sirens, so there are places where the siren cannot even be heard by the volunteers. If they live more 4 blocks away, or if they are in a restaurant or a movie theater, the siren cannot be heard. This seems to be an ineffective way to notify the volunteers given the current technology available. I am not only speaking for myself, but several families who joined me in this battle, who also suffer from these sirens. We are asking the township to consider eliminating this way of notification and join the 22 other towns that utilize a more effective way of notification. I do agree that it is necessary to maintain the fire siren system ONLY for severe catastrophes, a perfect example would be acts of war like 911, town power outages, evacuations etc

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