Final warning
Tuesday 26th January 2010, 2:29PM GMT.
This early-warning siren on top of the civil defence bunker at the Oberlands and 12 others are on the way out. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0907525)
The island’s 14 sirens are said no longer to be fit for purpose and would cost too much to replace.
Instead, in the event of an emergency, the Home Department will send out critical messages to islanders through the media, in particular the local radio stations.
The department is also looking to set up a text messaging facility.
Emergency planning officer Catherine Veron said the new system would be more effective.
‘The public warning sirens are no longer suitable for emergency planning purposes without a large investment of taxpayers’ money in replacing them, as well as in training,’ she said.
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What are they going to do liberation day?
Send a text?
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Why get rid of these?!!?! In an emergency they are extremely useful especially for people at work who are not allowed their phones on and do not listen to the radio….what happens then!?
I think people wouldn’t mind having to spend a minimal amount to keep the sirens in working order…they worked fine before (and still do on rememberance day/liberation day) so why would they need to change!
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That’s great for people that have got a mobile phone and have it registered and switched on, or for people that happen to be listening to the local media.
But has the reliability and possible delays of these methods been reviewed? What is the first thing that happens when disaster, natural or otherwise occurs? The telecommunications networks get overloaded – look at what happened in Haiti.
The mostly likely scenario for the use of the sirens would be an accident in one of the French nuclear plants. The sirens would give an immediate warning, it would take some time to get the message out via text messaging or local media.
So long as they’re not used they may appear to be expensive but if they are used just once in an emergency they would be worth every penny.
Lastly, they are a poignant reminder on Remembrance Day for us all to remember those that have given their lives so that we may live in a free society.
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@AR Look what happened in HAITI?…. Look what happens over here on New Years
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If they don’t waste money on the incinerator, they’ll have plenty to get new sirens :)
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For me the sirens were and always have been a joke, a throwback to the days of ‘Protect and Survive’ in the 80s when the States wasted money supporting a bunch of Dad’s Army type ‘civil defence volunteers’ who were going to show us how to survive the fallout from a nuclear war. At least now they are realising some real value as scrap metal.
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Even if deamed no longer fit for prupose, they are stil operational and could be used as additional cover.
Plus they are part of remeberance/liberation and for that means there should be no right to just cease their existance without consultation if there was a cost involved in maintaining them as is, or even allowing those that are oeprational to still operate but not spend on those that are not.
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As Neville Chamberlain once said..’Peace in our time’.
However, to be more practical, precisely where do we all go if Cap de la Hague becomes another Chernobyl (always possible), or some lunatic aims his WMD at us ? Unless you’ve pre-booked, the airlines will charge a fortune, and Condor probably won’t have a fast-ferry sailing on that day.
Personally, I can think of far better ways of exiting this life than being vapourised while waiting for a text message from the States of Guernsey…
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Me and my old mate John up the Plaza, would’nt be here today if it had’nt been for sirens and reverse gears in our Italian tanks during the war.When the ballon goes up the phone system jams !
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I too am disappointed at the idea of doing away with the sirens. In any case I think we`ve become too dependent on mobile phones. Keep the sirens, I`d say!
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On new years eve the network goes down because of so many text, wont this happen if they try and send messages to everyone on the island? what about people visiting? typical states doing stupid things without thinking anything through.
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As always the States of Guernsey take a decision in relation to Disaster Response planning, that plays fast and loose with the safety of local residents.
Reliance on the mobile phone networks is incredible, given that in any civil emergency, the mobile networks are likely to prove ineffective as the networks are swamped in subscribers attempting to alert / make contact with family and friends.
Perhaps, it might be useful for Emergency planning officer Catherine Veron to outline how the new system will be more effective?
Maybe she would comment on what percentage of the island’s population will be targeted by the new system and also confirm the timings from an alert being raised to islanders being informed?
With this information, islanders can then make a judgement on whether the risk versus benefit of dismantling the existing sirens makes commercial and operational sense.
As for the large investment in replacing / training element referred to in the article, this really is incredible. How much? How long has it taken to train previous generations of CD pers and what are the training / capital costs of replacing the existing sirens?
Only in Guernsey, eh!
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Emergency at the Power station,no power and no back up,the island has lost all power. Please listen to your local radio or internet for details.
And how much is this little joke going to cost us, when are the ”people” in charge gonna get there prioritys right !!
I think we should employ an independant investigation committee to verify this situation.
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I suppose it’s a way of preserving life in Guernsey. Only those with mobile phones switched om 24/7 will be saved!
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This decision stinks in so many different ways…
Firstly, If I am driving my car listening to a CD then I am going to die as I don’t text & drive…
Not everyone has a mobile phone & some of us that do are not always in an area that picks up signal.
I do not listen to local radio as the standard is worse then poor.
I would rather put pins in my eyes then sit & watch another episode of Jersey News cunningly disguised as Channel Report.
What if there was another Tsunami?? Electric gets wiped out & your phone gets wet??? What then?! Modern technology is too easily flawed…
But the main reason – Above all others… We are proud Guerns… Some lived through the occupation & others were affected by it… On Liberation Day these sirens should be heard island wide as a mark of respect, to help the younger generations to realise what happened… Also on 11/11 to start & stop the 2 mins silence…
Yet another pathetic decision by the States… Would the last Guern leaving please turn out the lights…
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What a lot of ridiculous apocalyptic thinking on this thread. Those sirens are piles of useless old junk that should have been scrapped decades ago. What we should be turning our attention to now is the role of two public servants, a civil protection co-ordinator and an emergency planning officer, whose roles are equally pointless. What do they do with their days? When was the last time they had a serious situation to deal with? At a stroke we could be saving 60 or 70k on the States payroll by making this pair redundant. Absolutely nobody apart from the pair in question would notice the difference.
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EARLY WARNING SIRENS
Being an over 60, apparently incapable of owning, switching on never mind operating a mobile phone. lol !! Get real and realise that some of us Wrinklies are very capable of receiving and sending text messages! However, I do not think it is a good way of sending an early warning message – thought of by a very young Ms Veron ??
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Not sure if it’s my age but every time I heard the sirens it sent a shiver up my spine. A mixture of a diet of war-movies, evacuated parents soldiering grandparents, 70/80s public information films about 4 minute warnings, Liberation Day and Armistice Day memorials obviously had an effect.
Keeping one on Victoria Tower (as proposed) for memorial days makes sense to me.
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The ones shown on the TV coverage did look pretty rusty,but if there are fourteen working devices in the island can we not keep at least half running for a few more years by using the rest for spare parts ?
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“What if there was another Tsunami?? ……..& your phone gets wet??? ”
By then it will be a little late for sirens.
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Also how often do text messages arrive after a delay of sometimes several hours, it’ll be a bit late then for the warning. Then again we’re probably worrying over nothing…there probably wouldnt be enough money in the budget to send out thousands of texts so only those considered important enough will recieve their message!!!
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Can anyone tell me if there is another country in the modern world that relies on warning sirens? I doubt that there is.
And what are we supposed to do when a siren sounds? We cannot tell what the problem is and would probably all just carry on with our lives as normal, assuming that the sirens are just being tested.
They are ineffective for an emergency, although I agree that keeping a few for Liberation Day would be a good idea as they are part of our heritage.
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As usual we are told that this is a cost cutting exercise, but no figures are given. I would like to know what the maintainence/replacement costs are compared to the potential text costs.
I am also agree with others that the sirens are are the Islands unique way of marking Liberation day and Armistice day, and this should not be forgotten when considering the changes, ‘lest we forget’
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Must charge my mobile and tune from radio 1 to gsy
If there was a nuclear i dont think any of us would stand a chance.
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actually there are other countries that rely on sirens ! the tornado warning,tsunami warning, and a few others that i cant remember lol , i have to disagree with the states once again on another bad idea. is it not true that in a nuclear attack that it wipes out all electronic comunications ( well thats what i was led to beleve) so phones and tv and radio wont work!!!!! mmmmm very clever to send a text to a redundant phone its discusting why cant the states ask the public of guernsey what they what instead of just doing these things it pee’s me off xx
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TL – the USA for a start!!!
I am under 40 and do not and will not have a mobile phone. (If people can’t wait until I get their message on my answer phone or won’t leave a message then it can’t have been that important). I work alone, outside. How am I supposed to find out about an emergency? At least the sirens would alert me that there is something wrong and I need to find out from somewhere.
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The Home Department must confirm exactly what they mean by “not fit for purpose”. I assume the sirens still work and are audible when turned on and if that is the case, then they are still fit for purpose – what other purpose are they thinking? Just because something is old and abit rusty or some idiot thinks they should be replaced with new ones, doesn’t mean to say they don’t still work. Perhaps if there is a lack of resources, one way of saving money might be to get rid of some of the clearly bored people at the Home Department who obviously have nothing better to do than to think up odd and ludicrous ways to change things that do not need changing.
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TL, in Switzerland too (where I live now) they use sirenes. Every year, I think on May the 8th, they test them too. Just the scary noise they make should remind us of the horrors of war.
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What do all you Dad’s Army types want to see – the States frittering a couple of million on a set of new but still ultimately useless sirens resulting in even bigger cuts in health and education?
Or maybe you’re in favour of wasting 10s or even 100s of thousands on keeping the current pieces of junk up and running for another decade or three?
None of you have thought it through at all. These crappy, noisy things date back to WW2. They’re old air raid sirens and they didn’t even do much good when the Germans came bombing 65 years ago. We’re living in Guernsey in 2010 now, not Walmington-on-Sea in 1940.
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Martino you have hit the nail on the head. I don’t agree with you in away but you were right that they date back to WWII! It is our heritage to keep them, they obviously still work as they can be heard every year, and the obviously did work as Guernsey is still populated and retains many buildings from before the war
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I am a Yank and was in Guernsey on November 11 and I was deeply touched by the sirens blaring at 1100, as it isn’t something we do here in America. My grandfather served in WWI and my father in WWII.
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Save the Sirens – join the group now
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=274719847202
thank you
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martino !! by the sound of your name your not even a guern!!!! im not a racist before you think of saying it ! but us guerns have a proud respect for the men and women of all the wars and if we have a siren sounding then it reminds us of what they all fort for. if these all disappears then it is a real shame and another crappy move from the states its appalling but not being a true guern you and all the others would not understand!!!!
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I too am like Neil Inder, the sound of those things sends a chill up my spine.I think we could rely on the people of Guernsey to spread the word,the things I hear in the course of a day are amazing, any fear of an attack would be round the island in a flash,albeit a little exaggerated,also if anything drastic happened at Flamanville or Cap de la Hague I really dont think a message on your mobile phone from your provider is really going to help you.Mind you neither will the sirens.
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Osama bin Laden sits in his cave, reading the Guernsey Press: “note to self….knock out Guernsey’s mobile phone network before launching attack”
What will a mobile alert look like? “we r doomed get undr d tabl c ya”
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My late Gran lived in London during the Blitz and lost a couple of homes. The sirens going off on Lib Day used to bring back frightening memories of those days and I think she would have been delighted to see the back of them. I’d be amazed if others from that generation didn’t think the same.
By all means argue the point about the usefulness of the sirens, but don’t use use the argument of remembrance – unless you’re certain that the veterans agree with you.
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How clever- stir up the natives who will say we must have our sirens and then the ?enormous cost of replacing them somehow becomes OK because the islanders want it…
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I agree with many – save one siren for remembrance and bring in more appropriate methods of communication for real emergencies. In that way we can be better informed and able to respond appropriately.
All communications and media companies have back-up power and can be available. Additionally, mobile phone companies are able to overide public traffic in their own interests.
What I believe is shameful is that Home Department appears to have gone ahead without setting up the alternative with the the telecoms companies! How stupid is that?
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Well I’m on a roamer and on lots of shopping trips out of the island. I don’t want to be annoyed by emergency texts asking me to be silent for a couple of minutes for some boring ceremony. Can I opt out of these texts?
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Thankyou States for suggesting a great money saving scheme for local landlords and employers ..
Suppose you have an old fire alarm system …. it needs replacing, and there are parts of the building where you can’t hear it properly ( the stationery cupboard, the IT server suite, the toilets on the fourth floor ). Rather than waste money replacing it with a modern system that can be heard everywhere, just rip the whole lot out.
If anyone smells smoke or sees a fire they can just text everyone else and tell them to look on the communal noticeboard where details of what to do will be posted ….
A perfect and inexpensive solution to the problem I’m sure you’ll all agree ….
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@Jackie, are you seriously that disrespectful?
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jackie,
Your attitude stinks, how dreadful for you that we have ‘some boring ceremony’. These ceremonies are to remember and pay respect to people. Respect is obviously something you sadly lack.
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Hi.
They will probably fit them after a distaster has happened!
‘Fix the door after the horse has bolted!’
I for one, dont sleep with my mobile by my bed. So should the unthinkable happen during the night, how am I going to know?
If I hear the sirens, I can put the radio/tv on and find out whats going on. Should it be through texts, the first thing I would do is contact other members of my family….Oh, no. That wouldnt work as everyone else would be doing the same and the network would freeze as it does on new years!
KEEP THE SIRENS.
For an example, just recall the Boxing Day Tsunami!! Yeah, they’ve got sirens now!
GD.
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A text message at night won’t wake me up. But neither will the sirens – not with double glazing. The text option will save, what, £half a million?
How about combining texts with church bells? As long as you can find someone prepared to ring them. Not everyone will be able to hear them, but I suspect that between text and bells it will reach as many or more people than the sirens and at little or no cost.
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Yet again the States make the wrong decision and think they better mention it to us local’s, just to let us know……
“Emergency planning Officer Catherine Veron said the new system would be more effective”
Really? What about those without mobiles or those that don’t listen/watch local media?
Not only can the majority of the island hear them, but the Sirens are part of our history and every time I hear them they remind me of the sacrifice of those that fought and died for our freedom in WWII.
If we can afford 90+ million on an incinerator, then we can afford early warning sirens.
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The old sirens have lasted very well that’s for sure.
It should not be that expensive to have a digital amplified PA system strategically placed around the island on mobile phone masts.
The old mechanical siren sound could still be used for this. This kind of system could offer other uses in the future. Carnivals and the like!
The power supplies are already in place. It would just be a case on installing the equipment with routine maintenance.
A simple text alert could be used to activate the whole network. I am surprised an easy solution has not been found in these technological times.
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We DON’T need this sort of system. They’re ancient, rusting, falling apart AIR RAID sirens, repeat AIR RAID sirens, that serve a purpose only during a conventional war. They wouldn’t warn us against any 9/11 style attack, we’re not in an earthquake or tsunami zone and if there is ever any sort of serious incident at Flamanville or La Hague (highly unlikely) it would involve the release into the atmosphere of radioactive emissions. It would not be the sort of incident that would knockout all the modern communications we have in place that would be more than sufficient to warn us of any major disaster/incident/accident. These siren calls for the sirens to be maintained/replaced really are laughable.
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As the Home Department are keeping one at Victoria Tower for ceremonial use, Liberation Day will be catered for. Jersey dismantled their system in 1995, as the UK was doing, due to lack of spares and money to replace the complete system. I think we have been lucky to have kept them going for so long.
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I understand that people want to keep the sirens for tradition – but that is the only use for them.
I mean if “some lunatic aims his WMD at us” then i really don’t think we have much of a chance do we? and why would anyone aim a WMD at Guernsey? And also, if there was a nuclear fallout I don’t think that a sound of a siren would really protect us or even wake half the island up if it was in the middle of the night.
If you want to keep them for tradition then argue that, but there is only really the need to keep one. In case of an extremely unlikely emergency, that many of you seem to use as the basis for you arguments, I don’t think the sirens are going to help. They are a bit of a waste of money, outdated and should only be used for the purposes of tradition.
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I cannot believe that so many people seem to think that the sirens are actually of any use in an emergency.
So the sirens go off – what then? They are also used to mark certain occasions and someone above said they could be used for festivals. So is it an emergency, or is it a ceremony/festival? Do I run for cover or do I not?
Even if I think they are going off because of an emergency, what do I do then? The sirens cannot explain what the problem is, nor what I should do. So what do I do? Do I reach for my gas mask (oh no, sorry, this is not WW2), or run to the air raid shelter at the bottom of my garden? (sorry again, it is still not the Blitz), or do I run for high ground to escape the tsunami (not likely) or do I stay inside because there has been a nuclear accident in France?
The sirens are absolutely useless unless we are faced by a single and direct threat when everyone knows what to do when they hear them.
They are part of our heritage but that is a different issue and I am not sure that we need sirens all over the island in order to retain that.
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I work at a fairly large University in the U.S. that utilizes a media/SMS alert system. We have about 40,000 students and staff. The few times the system has been used have been a joke. The time lag from when the alert is sent and when it is received stretched into hours. That’s assuming it reached you at all. The system also relies on people signing up for it. The last alert we had was a campus wide evacuation after a major gas leak. At the time my lab was two thirds full. Not one student in there was aware of the alert as none of them had signed up for the service.
One other thing to consider is this. What happens to the phone system on New years Eve (every year) when 63,000 text messages are suddenly sent out?
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But Jimtheguern, your university is not a mobile service provider. Sure / Vodafone, etc could stop all other traffic and just send an emergency message to everyone, whether they want it or not.
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whether it is sirens or texts or CD vols banging pots and pans, the real point is what do i do when the nuclear boxes go up 30 miles away in a persistent north easterly and i have to get my kids out. What is the authorities’ plan – will they evacute, how quick, and in what way … or do i head to my in-law’s boat and fight off the boat-less hoards? is there a plan or just a planning committee and planning officer? i challenge anyone to show me there is any plan after the event. (do not say it the risk is low – ain’t the point).
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In the event of a nuclear blast the EMP will probably take down the phone and all electronic systems by which time it will be too late anyhow.
The cost of the sirens is miniscule compared to the recently reported wastage of tax payers money on other States ventures.
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I have worked on the sirens in the past, and they are not the origanal sirens from 37, they are at most 30 yrs old. the surface rust is due to the motors not being protected with alloy coverings that can be purchased. I last worked on the sirens about 7 yrs ago and they are perfectly ok and with a lick of paint and some lubricant would last another 30 yrs.
I can tell you now it will cost a huge amount of money to safely remove them all at once which by the time this has been done, new sirens could have been installed at less.
Lets not loose another unique guernsey tradition because of money. keep them working until money has been raised to upgrade them and if one by one they brake down at least we have a bit of time to afford new ones
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If a text message was sent at the same time to every mobile phone on Guernsey, the system would collapse. Every phone number would have to be on a database, How will they manage that?
And every large city in the UK still has sirens!!
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The Sirens will cost too much of the TAX PAYERS MONEY!! In which case- Why not let the TAX PAYING PUBLIC DECIDE! Let the people who really matter take part in this decision.
NOTHING! should be done away with BEFORE a SUITABLE,APPROPRIATE,EFFECTIVE,ALTERNATIVE is in place. (Management speak) Why don’t they practice what they preach to us.
Time and Time again we hear Procedure’s are in place…. well! in principle they may be. Some lively chap sticks a note on a board.
Outlining what we CANNOT use
Describing what we WILL use
Detailing why the effective-(in our view)
is being replaced.For something more effective….(in their view)
What! is more EFFECTIVE As a Warning! Than a Very, very, Loud noise!!!
people hear THEM and they call each other”did you hear that! the sirens went off…simple.
My mother cringed and she hated them as she lived through the war but even she would say!!there must be something wrong. the sirens are going off today! they only use them now on Liberation. Everyone is familiar with them. Every one is NOT Familiar with the suggested Alternative.Surely Safety here is Key! people have to know what they are dealing with. even a small child will say! what is that Loud noise Mummy!!She may not know, but she does know she HAS to find out and she will.
Fix them!Make them Appropriate!
For once the goods are there!
Make what we have MORE EFFECTIVE! AND AT THE SAME TIME PRESERVE A LEGACY. If everyone else is getting rid of theirs all the more reason to keep ours. *There was a huge Hoo! HA! because someone wouldn’t paint the post box outside their house a different colour. Now! we have the oldest Post box in the u.k.
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Have to say that the sirens bring back a lot of BAD memories to people my age- fear, foreboding- you name it- I guess a lot of people wanting to keep them were not born during WW2- I think its good they are keeping one for ceremonials but get rid of them and go forward instead of looking back- spend the money on the hospital.By the way not everyone has a mobile phone- am sure the “great and the good” of the Guernsey states will think of a way of warning of danger
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just another bit of guernsey on its way out ,just so we can copy what they do in england (like singing to the apples). aside from this ,what should be done in the event of nuclear accident is shut all windows and doors ,find a comfortable armchair assume the brace position (head between legs ) and WHISTLE !!!
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Seems to me Geoff Dorey was floundering and unconvincing on the radio Friday morning.
Sirens are for full on major events, fall out, tsunami, terrorist NBC attack. His arguents about flooding on the west coast or a plane crash are laughable. Of course you don’t need them for that.
I don’t listen to the media when I am asleep, but maybe he expects disasters only to happen in the day?
Just because you have had insurance for years and not needed it, it doesn’t mean you won’t use it tomorrow.
What planet is he on? Geoff Dorey out !!
What is Dave Jones going to do about this?
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There is a group of people who seem to have been forgotten in this scenario. At any time there are quite a large number of visitors on the island, whether it is for a holiday or whatever. Will they have to register their phones too on arrival? Will the text message warning be translated into other languages? If I were in a foreign city I would be unlikely to watch/listen to the local news and my phone might not work but I would at least be alerted that there was a problem if a siren was going off as this is pretty universal.
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SIRENS OR NO SIRENS-
WE HAVE A PERSON WHO FIXES THEM SAYING IT WILL BE A FRACTION OF THE COST TO RESTORE THEM THAN TO HAVE THEM TAKEN AWAY. SURELY IN TIMES SUCH AS THESE ONE SHOULD BE REPAIRING AND PRESERVING WHAT RESOURCES WE DO HAVE AND PUT IN PLACE A PLAN FOR FUTURE MAINTENANCE.
DESTROYING A WORKABLE PRODUCT AT A LARGER COST. AND THEN HAVING TO REPLACE IT WITH AN ALTERNATIVE THAT MAY OR MAY NOT SUIT EVERYONES NEEDS! IS NOT GOOD HOUSEKEEPING!
PLEASE TELL ME AS A WOMAN…THIS WAS A DECISION MADE BY A MAN!(He doesn’t work for telecoms by any chance does he?)
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Chris
Did you mean Geoff Mahy Minister of the Home department?
I looked at the reasoning for this when it came to Policy council and it is true that in 60 odd years these sirens were never used in an emergency or a local incident of any significance, for instance they were not sounded when the Prosperity broke its back and sank with the huge loss of life amongst the crew including the Captains wife, nor when the Orion oil rig came ashore in a storm or when the paper plane crashed hitting a bungalow along the Forest road. They were not used on the night of the Hurricane when lots of peoples roofs ended up in the road and a hundred or more trees came down across roads and into people’s gardens. They were only ever used as air raid warnings during and before the German occupation to warn people to take cover and ceremonial occasions on remembrance Sunday and liberation day after that. There are fourteen sirens in all, around the island and you have to remember they were installed at a time when there were no 24 hour news bulletins, no televisions very little in the way of media messaging to the general public, The police and the fire services work around the clock and if there was a major incident in the middle of the night effecting the whole island, lots of people including me if I was still in office would be woken up and a massive public information campaign would get underway immediately together with mobilising whatever services were needed to tackle the situation. The grapevine is very effective in Guernsey as we are a very close knit community, I remember vividly getting a phone call in the early hours of the morning from a family member telling me that Princess Diana had been killed in a car in a tunnel in Paris, when that tragic event happened most people were in bed but everyone knew about it as the dreadful news flew round the island. I am trying to think of a good reason for spending many thousands of pounds for keeping them all and I can’t, not when we could use that money for much more vital things in our community and we have much more up to date methods of communicating with thousands of people almost instantly. We will still have one siren for ceremonial occasions and I fully support that.
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I wonder if a group of individuals or an organisation would be prepared to service them for free?
Maybe Marine & General, Boatworks or others might spot a good PR opportunity!
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Yes Dave I absolutely wholeheartily agree, to be fair how many of us would know what to do or where to go if we heard a siren in the middle of the night,I expect we would phone someone to find out what was going on, or many would phone their deputies.Are these people who want to keep the sirens,the same ones that want to cut spending? I only found out last week I have a siren near my house, about half a mile away and I can honestly say I have never heard it, oh yes the wind was in the wrong direction! Fat lot of use that was.
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Its all irrelevant – what sort of disaster are we going to get early warned about? That the French Nuclear stations have blown -ooops too late were all dead, bin ladens sent a bomb our way – ooops too late were all dead – an earthquake or a tsunami coming our way – oops too late were all dead. By the time any “disaster strikes” and someone has activated the sirens – it will be too late.
In an ideal world I would love to keep them for rememberance sunday and Lib day etc but it sounds like an expensive luxury that at present we cant necessarily afford. Either we find a sponsor, or we go without, in the hope that in the future we can replace them when budgets allow.
Or maybe there is someone out there a proud guern who would like to offer to see if they can fix them for no charge?
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If it was a major catastrophe affecting the whole island the Emergency Powers group would meet immediately no matter what time of the day or night it was and the media would be summoned to a meeting to see what could be done to get the public message out to the people on the current situation. There are contact numbers for all these key people, the Editor of the press would be summoned from his bed to discuss the next few hours and what he could do to help, using the paper as an information sheet while the TV and radio stations would be kept up to date with the current state of affairs in order that they could broadcast news as it became available, this together with the phone companies who would also have a huge role to play, remembering of course that the emergency services never sleep nor do the phone companies. There will always be those who will remain unconvinced and still believe that the sirens are the answer to all their prayers but I assure they are not and have not been since the war.
As for visitors, what do they do back home? as there are no longer any sirens in the UK or most of the European countries. I take your point on text messaging as we also have a number of foreign guest workers in Guernsey but I would suggest that no government anywhere in the world can cater for every nationality or for every circumstance at any given time we have to do what is reasonable and practical.
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Dave Jones
Did the Emergency Powers group meet when liar Blair told the Commons (not the Commons Council)that uncle Saddam could strike within 45 minutes or did you recognize that statement for what it was at the time ?
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The sirens were installed in 1937 and were first used in anger on 28 June 1940 when three planes bombed St Peter Port harbour, killing 33 people.
The british officially went to war on 3rd September 1939. It took only 10 months from the “official” start of the war for the sirens to be needed.
Although britain is not at war, with the situation in Europe going on for well over that time I would have thought they would be looking at ways to improve the sirens not scrapping them. There are many reasons for keeping them.
I cannot believe that it will cost that much to maintain. Sounds like they are plucking figures out of the air again. How much would it cost to send text messages to every mobile? Also what about children who have mobiles. Do we really want our youngsters recieving messages that will terrify them?
My Grandparents rarely have their mobile phones on and would probably stare at it for 10 minutes trying to work out how to retrieve a text message, let alone see what it says. Another problem with sending text messages is the volume they would have to send at once. Look what happens at midnight on New Years Eve. The network gets jammed and we either recieve 6 identical messages or none at all. There are also many foriegn workers over here who have kept their own network sim cards, how do they expect to have all of thier numbers? Tourists??? Are they going to keep track of mobile numbers of all the visitors to the Island? The Sirens provide Island wide notification and need to be kept.
There are so many people willing to fight to keep them, is anyone capable and willing to volunteer to maintain them? If there was a group of qualified people who could check/repair etc on a regular basis, it would make for a stronger argument.
As I type, the facebook group has 1,848 members, and has made the news, surely this has to count for something. Is there a petition? If not then one needs to be started. It may not be much but short of seeking out where those wonderful noise makers are and tying ourselves to them, there is not a lot else we can do.
Guernsey’s heritage is very important to all Donkeys and many others. Too much of it has been destroyed already. (like the peoples faith in the states) If the States members who approved the fitting of the sirens were still in office, this would not even be a question on the agenda!
Sorry for the essay, but so many things need to be said and somebody has to make them take notice.
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Arnie G in those nine paragraphs you haven’t given a single half good reason why those piles of rusting old junk should be kept – apart from a load of sentimental old tosh about them being part of our heritage.
What next? Spend loads more money bringing the cannons at Castle Cornet into full working order again to defend our shores. That would be just as ludicrous a proposition.
Those awful noise boxes were practically useless the last time they were sounded in anger in 1940, as you yourself admit, because they didn’t given enough warning of the German air raid at the White Rock. Did they save any lives then? Probably not.
And during the 70 years since that horrific act of war, while they’ve been rusting away at our expense, there has not been a single emergency incident of any description when they would or could have have been of any conceivable use or value at all.
In fact I challenge you to name one.
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Load em in a truck ,take them to les nicolles, get the inmates to scrape /sand and lubricate them, then repaint, job done ,and ready to go as the man who knows, said for another 30 years (dont give them petrol to clean their brushes though)once reinstalled make it known to the islanders that on hearing the sirens check with neighbours ,mobiles or the media as to the nature of the emergency ,right sorted and it didnt take long to think that up ,can i have a well paid job in the ministry of stupid ideas (the states)please, oh and cost? well it wasnt “a large investment of taxpayers money” get them cleaned up ,functional and put them back please or i’ll be right niggled .
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