Video Tweet of fire advancing on Calistoga near Hwy 128. Uploaded 5 minutes ago. Note: in one video in the set by this member you can hear Calistoga utilizing Tornado/Wildfire/Air Raid type sirens to alert the town. https://twitter.com/i/status/1310769582290870273
Thats the evacuation tone that all law enforcement in California has now on there patrol cars!
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We also have an air raid network in Sonoma/Lake/Napa Counties.
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Actually, Videopro is correct. That’s the towns siren raid to alert of an emergency. It’s an old town and they’ve kept it to these modern times. The ones you’re speaking of is also correct but it’s a high/lo tone; outfitted on the LE rides 
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Everybody is correct. There were multiple videos in Emily Maher’s Twitter feed. At least one shows LE using hi/lo, which may be new on police vehicles, but certainly goes to back to at least the 90’s on CAL FIRE vehicles. At least one other video has the sound of a mechanical wail , similar to old air raid sirens.
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The SO were using those tones in Berressa Estates a month ago during the Hennessy.
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Both systems are in play in multiple California communities. The hi/lo option on sirens was systematically removed over time during the 80’s/90’s as it doesn’t meet the CVC for the required noise type for a siren. Now, we have taken it back. I can’t imagine how many vehicles have been modified to meet that need. Many communities, especially smaller ones, have kept the old air raid sirens around. So, they have been repurposed.
At the end of the day, or night, what do these tell the residents? It’s a great way to wake people up, but gives no direction on positive actions they can take once they realize an emergency is at hand. In the sense of evacuations, the public has no direction on the proper path(s) to egress to not end up trapped. When air raid sirens were used during the Cold War, everyone knew what to do. Now, not so much.
More alarms are great, especially when infrastructure fails, but it’s just one tool. Not a panacea.
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Agree, use the tools to help get people out of the path.
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Are you able to share what is happening on Mt St Helena right now? Looks like a lot of activity for the last few hours. Has it dropped down below Oat Hill Mine Rd and closer to the city? Concern that it could hit the Tubbs scar and head further west to SoCo. Not a ton of veg on that side, however, enough to keep it moving. Limited information on this one compared to Hennessey and Kincade…
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To add abit of color to the siren tones heard in the video set: (there were several uploaded by the Twitter member in Calistoga.) The Hi-Lo on the patrol car is heard as is also the rotating platform tornado/wildfire type of which at least two can be heard on another separate video: Air moving rotating air-raid sirens are still quite common place in many California communities including throughout the City of Los Angeles and have remained there since the early 1960’s Cuban Missile Crisis. In areas of high wild-fire danger, the original Cold-War relic siren design had it’s primary role re-designated to wildfire alerting. Some inherited them in-place and others purchased them as surplus for re-installation. Few are actual newly manufactured designs. The video here is one of the rare times one can be heard being used in an actual emergency rather than periodic testing.
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Our fire department was volunteer back in the day and used the old air raid type siren to alert the volunteers.
As call volume increased and paid staff were added, the siren was replaced by pagers. The siren is now used to notify the downtown area of potential creek flooding. (Soquel in Santa Cruz County)
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Placerville had 3 in the 70’s. All my uncles were Placerville ‘protectors’. It was cool to scream down Green Street to the downtown station with my Uncle Rick when the ‘fire whistle’ would go off.
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After the Valley Fire, South Lake County Fire bought and installed air raid sirens in the district. They might not be a load speaker telling people exactly what to do but they are a system to notify people over a large area that they need to evacuate. The fire might not always be coming from the same direction, people need to use their best judgement on the actions they need to take to get to safety. In times like this where a fire is complete chaos and their are not enough resources to be every where, people should not be reliant on waiting for a fire engine so show up to tell them to leave or which way to go.
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The Hi/Lo was prominent on the old Federal Signal siren controls that were ubiquitous in the past. It is a common siren in Europe (as I’m sure most have heard).
Sac Fire has/had one of the community sirens on the top of their old Sta 20 on Arden. Used to go off once a month as a test. That thing was LOUD, shook the whole building. They have others throughout the community. I believe they are now purposed to activate if there is a breach of the levees of the American River and the possible need to evacuate the area because of such breach.
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Along the Foresthill Divide, the Foresthill Fire District is in the process of putting up a low power AM radio station for emergency alerting. Sirens alert people but, as mentioned in a post above, it does not provide direction.
The Foresthill Emergency Alert Radio Station will function 24/7, year round playing a recorded loop of upcoming community events, community meetings, school sporting events, and seasonal public safety messaging. The School District will use it for schedule changes such as snow days. Year round use with helpful information helps drive people to the station and helps them remember it during an emergency. Additionally, the radio station will be available via internet through the District web site.
Changes to the broadcast message can be completed remotely by phone, computer, or VHF radio, providing up-to-date messaging during an emergency.
Cars still have AM radios and during a PG&E Public Safety Shutoff, many of our residents are without phone or cell service making the reverse 911 system undependable. Annually, tens of thousands of people access the Tahoe and El Dorado National Forests surrounding Foresthill. This system may be the only way for those visitors to receive emergency information.
While not a complete answer it is expected to fill a huge information gap during routine and critical emergency incidents. Many communities around the country utilize these stations for broadcasting emergency information.
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Someone should get these going.
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It takes a few seconds to wind up.
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I shouldn’t have ate that burrito earlier 
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San Luis Obispo County, specifically south of the grade, had them as part of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant emergency system. Would scare the crap out of you… even when you knew they were going to get tested!
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It’s more than just a siren or two — it’s 131! The annual test was last month…
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