Oakmont officials to review fire siren use in response to resident's concerns

Oakmont officials want to review the use of borough fire department sirens in response to resident complaints.

Councilwoman Leah Powers on Aug. 17 requested a log of the sirens’ uses and for what calls after a discussion with resident Jill Weeks.

Weeks showed council a video that evening with children holding their ears as sirens blared.

The clips also included references to articles about noise exposure and its impact on people.

Sounds above 85 decibels can cause hearing loss, according to multiple reports.

The siren at the volunteer fire station along Fifth Street is 95 decibels, and the siren atop Tenth Street Elementary is near 109 decibels, according to fire department grant writer and 2nd Lt. Craig Aber.

It’s unclear how many decibels the siren along Ann Street near the treatment plant is.

Powers said other residents have brought up the issue before, and the sirens could be a shock to people who have not lived in Oakmont long.

“It is a surprising, sort of shocking thing,” Powers said. “Certainly, it’s surprising by a home. I think it’s helpful to hear new perspectives, to get new perspectives on this issue and if, for nothing else, than to take a minute to reflect, to assess, to reevaluate. What I’d like for us to do as a council is take a look at the use of that siren and to gather some data.”

Weeks repeatedly commended the volunteer fire department and its members for their service while offering her concerns about the sirens.

“We’re so lucky and we’re so grateful, but there are consequences to the things you put in place,” Weeks said. “I don’t ever want to undermine what we do here for public service. This is such a great town.”

She noted many people and companies had to make adjustments as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, and it might be time for the borough to find “a better way of doing things.”

“We’ve all been pushed to have to do that during the pandemic, and I would encourage our town to do the same,” Weeks said. “It’s very important to me. It’s very important to our neighborhood, and it’s really affected our kids.”

Fire Chief David Carroll said he can provide council with information on the sirens but will not take them down.

“Anybody that has concerns, I always explore those as options to educate the citizens about why we use those and why it’s a necessary sound,” Carroll said. The department responds to about 220 calls a year.

He said firefighters get text alerts from Allegheny County as well as other notifications of emergencies on smartphones and pagers. The sirens are a necessary redundancy, according to Carroll.

“We’re not tethered to our devices 24/7,” the chief said. “I, for one, would never make a decision as fire chief to take away our fire sirens. I would not be that guy that said, ‘Hey, we didn’t get a response to an emergency and somebody died because they didn’t hear the whistle.’

“If council wants to take that on, God love you. I feel this is a fire decision and a fire choice from the standpoint of making sure we’re responding when we need to, but I’m happy to supply you any data.”

Carroll noted it costs about $10,000 to $12,000 per siren to replace them, and that’s not in the department’s budget any time soon.

The chief welcomed folks to have fundraisers or find ways to come up with money to fund such a project.

This is not the first time residents have complained about the sirens.

Many social media comments a few years ago forced fire department officials to address the issue with council.

The only significant change since then with the sirens is the department stopped testing them at noon on Saturdays.