Residents and Visitors to Greenport, N.Y. have been subject to the Air Raid Sirens put on by the fire department / staff to respond to their emergency calls for decades. Meanwhile, these extremely loud, disruptive, annoying, and misleading sirens create tension in our calm countryside, that so many are living here in Greenport to enjoy!

This is more true than ever during the middle of the night when families and guests are sleeping peacefully in preparation for their next day. As sleep is an important part of mental health, the people of Greenport Do NOT appreciate being woken up to a terrifying Siren at all hours of the night! 

Tell Our Mayor George W. Hubbard, Jr of The village of Greenport and Joel Vetter - Chief of Fire Rescue and Emergency services, That we want the Greenport Fire Dept. Siren turned off permanently or at least from the hours of 9 P.M.  to 7 A.M. and ONLY have the Siren tested 1 time a month to 1 time a week depending on department use, as demonstrated by other Fire Departments and Emergency Services.

Given the tools left to us today, advances in communication technology, and the fact that many fire stations all over the U.S. are NOT using this form of communication, gives me reason to believe that this Air Raid Siren is still being used today either for nostalgia reasons or ignorance. There are many less intrusive communication options that are available to choose from that are either as effective or more effective than an old siren, and the Greenport Fire Department needs to adopt changes for the peace of our residents. 

I know this because growing up in a small town in The middle of the US this Air Raid Siren was ONLY used for Tornado Warnings for the purpose of telling the whole town to take cover as their lives were at stake.

You can then only imagine me hearing the Air Raid Siren in Greenport for the first time lying in bed asleep, being woken abruptly, and thinking a Tornado was about to take my life in terror (fight or flight response activated) which gave way to my autonomous response, to seek cover in my basement ASAP!

Firstly, this is the opposite result desired in a fire alarm, and could have resulted In me being trapped in my basement if there had been a fire. 

Secondly, the physiological toll it takes on me every time the Air Raid Siren goes off at any time though day or night. Still thinking it's a Tornado, but NOW Training myself to ignore the meaning of the Air Raid Siren all together. Which completely defeats the purpose of the Emergency Services! 

What is the point of Greenport's Air Raid Siren other than Habit and to mess with our minds? Not to mention the town of Southold - one town over - now turns off their Air Raid Siren at night! 

I'm already assuming you are going to mention “safety and response time”. Which is simply not true, given the statements made by various County Fire Services in our neighboring counties in the New York Times article "Sirens Raise Firefighters, and Noise Complaints" By Stewart Ain, Published on July 18, 1999 (more than 20 Years ago! Why are we behind the times and being subjected to this Crazy Siren?)

Please read excerpts from that article below: 

Vincent Kehoe, Assistant Fire Rescue Coordinator for the Nassau County Fire Communication Center, said that East Meadow, Elmont, Floral Park and Valley Stream had stopped using their sirens, and reported no problems.

Carey A. Welt, a Commissioner of the East Meadow Fire Department, said his department had relied solely on pagers since the 1980’s. ''The sirens are used only as a backup system, but we have not found it necessary to use them,'' he said. The sirens were discontinued ''to be more community-minded”, Mr. Welt said, even though there had been only a handful of complaints from the district's 50,000 residents.

Frank C. Pellegrini, Chairman of the Dix Hills Fire Department's Board of Commissioners, said he also heard from another councilman and the town supervisor, Frank Petrone. Until then, he said, there had been only sporadic complaints about the siren from neighbors behind the firehouse, ''but they accepted it.'' He noted that the siren had for years been turned off between 9 P.M. and 7 A.M., when only pagers were used.

If the pagers have been good enough for nighttime service, why worry about relying on them at any hour? Gerard Rosciano, chief of the Dix Hills department, explained that the margin of error was smaller during the day.

(https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/18/nyregion/sirens-raise-firefighters-and-noise-complaints.html