Information on the Siren at Cobb Island Volunteer Fire Department and EMS

Recently we received several inquiries from the community for the explanation of the department siren sounds. Our siren is set up to sound to four different types of emergencies. The most common siren is for EMS calls (Ambulance) and the other for Fire calls (Fire Truck or Boat). The EMS siren is one continous sound that normally lasts for a total of 15 seconds. The Fire siren is three sounds that go up and down and normally lasts for a total of 45 seconds.

The other two siren sounds are for notifying the community of a tornado. If a tornado is sighted in our area the siren will sound constantly for 15 minutes and will alternate up and down for the 15 minutes, this is to warn our citizens to take cover or take shelter from the storm. The other sound is a All Clear siren. This is when the siren will sound continuously for 5 minutes. This is to notify the citizens that the storm has cleared or passed and we are not in the immediate threat area.

All of these siren sounds are set from a remote location at our communications center in La Plata. We can also sound these sirens manually from our station if the need arises.