It's a ghostly, haunting sound. Even terrifying.
Seventy years ago it would have signaled the arrival of the Luftwaffe over London, another blitzkreig, raining bombs. It was, and remains, one of the most distinguishable of sounds.
The wailing Carter air-raid type siren probably still has us all hotwired. And for that reason, it's being touted as the answer to the ongoing problem of an effective disaster scenario alert system.
'Two sounds,” says Tauranga City councilor Bill Grainger.
'One oscillating, up and down, up and down, telling people to tune into their radios or TVs where they will be told what the emergency is and what to do.”
The second siren would be more ominous. 'A continuous sound that tells you to get out and get to higher ground.”
'It's a very simple, very effective sound. Even children know it,” says Geoff Williamson, director of Tauranga company Tactical Tooling, a company which has modernised the Carter siren.
'And no, the people who slept through their tsunami text notifications last week would not have slept though the Carter siren,” says Geoff.
It would have been heard clearly atop Mauao and just as loud on The Strand. 'It would have done the job, without doubt, without question.”
Residents along the seaside strip are heaping pressure on the Tauranga City Council to provide a tsunami siren system after inconsistent results from the text notification system.
After the 7.5 rattler last week, residents leapt on social media with their concerns.
'Relying on one medium of communication is short-sighted”, said one post and 'sirens definitely needed in Bayfair/Papamoa” said another. And Tauranga MP Todd Muller said when it really mattered, the txt alert system had failed the people of Papamoa. 'I think it's time to prioritise sirens.”
Geoff Williamson says they have a modernized, scientifically proven and peer reviewed product that would do the job.
'We had a sound engineer who was a genius. He examined the Carter siren and figured how it could be constructed a whole lot better. The sound now travels three or four time further than the traditional siren.”
When they wound up the siren in Wellington, the 118 decibels could be heard clearly 22km away on the other side of the harbour.
In 2012, the Tauranga City Council called for tenders for a disaster event warning system.
Tactical Tooling submitted a bid with its fully updated Carter siren but the council opted for an electronic system, eight speakers on every pole.
There's a suggestion it was abandoned after the cost blew out to $2.4 million.
'Maybe not that much,” says Bill. 'But you needed a heck of a lot more of them.”
There was a problem with the electronic warning system, a major flaw tinged with whoopsie.
'Some people couldn't hear it,” says Bill. 'The siren may have been new technology at the time, but the sound didn't penetrate buildings.
'And when they did a trial run that's exactly what happened. Many people in and close to the trial area just didn't hear the siren.” And the idea was killed.
Bill was personally involved in trialing of Tactical Tooling's air-raid type Carter siren. 'From my point of view it worked very successfully.”
The big howler as it was affectionately dubbed was apparently heard 5km away.
The Carter siren is a circulating drum which produces pulses of loud sound. 'The sound waves penetrate buildings,” says Geoff. 'You will hear it inside without doubt.”
It would require 12 or 13 stations from Papamoa through Mount Maunganui to Tauranga City.
'That would cover more area than is required of the council,” says Geoff. 'All low lying areas, all vulnerable areas.” And the cost would be about $850,000.
'Cheap,” says Geoff.
Bill has just one prerequisite. 'I want people to hear it. Whether they are asleep in bed, whether they are driving their car, whatever they are doing I want them to hear the siren. And there's nothing better, the old wailing World War 2 air raid type siren is well proven.”
The councilor remembers one the Carter sirens atop the old tele-communications building on Cameron Road near 11th Avenue. 'It went off, just one whirr, at midday every day and everyone from the CBD to Greerton knew it was lunchtime. They work.”
'I want it to work,” says Geoff.
”I live here, I work here, I have a family here and I want the best for the city.” The ‘best' just might be the re-invented World War II Carter air raid type siren. Few electronic parts, low maintenance, proven and cheap. 'They just keep going.”
This has been a sensitive issue for Bill Grainger. 'And that's why councilors Leanne Brown, Steve Morris and I have filed a notice of motion with the council chief executive calling on the council to consider the issues and options for a tsunami alerting system.
'First of all people need to be alerted,” says Geoff. 'Everyone needs to be awake in any natural emergency.”
If you would like to hear a Carter air raid siren use the following link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erMO3m0oLvs