Federal Signal EOWS-1212 | Alert | Cold Spring, KY

Описание: Type: Federal Signal EOWS-1212
Signal: Alert
Location: 4113 E Alexandria Pike, Cold Spring, Campbell County, KY

Yes, I am prepared for the comments regarding the fact that I have labeled this as a 1212. Read beyond the general description for that story.

Campbell County was conducting a special test today at 2:00 PM because they had issues with sirens during their last test. Michael, August, and I took this as an opportunity to record in a county we usually wouldn't. August went for his childhood Modulator, while me and Michael setup at this 1212 on top of the Central Campbell County Fire District building in Cold Spring. After obtaining permission from a firefighter, we went inside the station to see what kind of controller we were dealing with. Surprisingly, it was UV. Most of the 1212's in Campbell County that are active tend to have MCP controllers. The siren wound up in alert, and while that may be a bit generic, it was cool hearing it out of something like this. Enjoy!

The 1212 Story:
Construction of the William H. Zimmer Power Station commenced in 1972, and the plant was to be a nuclear fission plant. Of course, the plant needed warning sirens within its 10-mile EPZ, and they called for electronic sirens specifically. Federal Signal knew they couldn't miss out on a deal like this, so they quickly whipped up a siren to meet their needs. This siren was the first in the EOWS line of sirens, and looks just like the EOWS-115, which would enter their lineup later using the same style of array.The bidding process ended, with Federal sealing the deal. Originally, 15 sirens were planned to be installed within the EPZ, but that was upped to 30. The sirens were installed along with "EOWS*C/B" controllers. The only logical conclusion I've come up with for "C/B" is "Controller/Battery." According to some sources, these controllers (and the sirens themselves), were hastily put together with cheap electronics and were very prone to failure. This is likely why you don't see many with their original controllers. Not long after the sirens were installed (1981-1982), construction on the plant was deemed unsafe for a nuclear power station, and it was cancelled in 1983. The plant was reintroduced as a coal fossil-fuel plant in 1987. As for the sirens, their fates depended on the counties they resided in. Many got put to use as civil defense and tornado sirens. Some went to area fire departments as call sirens (very likely what happened with the particular unit we recorded). Sirens were taken down, relocated, and some stayed in place. All in all, 20 of the Zimmer 1212's are currently accounted for, with 9 still in service, 4 inactive in place, 4 in storage, 2 in private collections, and 1 destroyed in an EF-3 tornado during the March 2nd, 2012 tornado outbreak. Additionally, projector horns from a unit have been found in a fire department basement, eluding to a possible parts unit. 8 or so former locations are known, however, many of those could have simply been relocated, and are accounted for.

We are glad to have captured one of these pieces of history for you all to enjoy, and plan on getting more in the future.