In general, Baltimore County fire department house sirens have become completely obsolete and unnecessary since the installation of County wide electronic notification systems several years ago that now alert all volunteers electronically to their phones and/or pagers.  When those systems go down/offline, there are backup procedures in place that do not require a house siren alert.

The Reisterstown Volunteer Fire Company (RVFC) continues to use their house siren several times each day, which reaches over 100 decibels to those homes nearby.  The siren needlessly contributes to hearing damage, disrupts sleep patterns, interferes with local businesses and restaurants, and stresses pets for those living and working close by. 

Ironically, in a meeting with the Reisterstown Volunteer Fire Company and local neighbors in August, 2022 during which an elaborate presentation of their alerting systems and personnel was given by the fire chief, they further proved our point that the siren is not needed.  They use pagers as their primary alerting system with cell phone alerting apps as a backup, and only 10% of their active members are even within indoor earshot of the siren at any given time.  The fire chief and vice president basically said that they like the siren to alert them to check their other devices when they don't have them nearby.  Therefore, they would rather deafen us than keep their pagers and cell phones nearby when they are on duty like all of their other volunteers do.

Ten other volunteer fire departments in Baltimore County have already silenced their house sirens out of respect for their neighbors, and function as usual without it. (for example, Cockeysville, White Marsh, Providence, Owings Mills, and Rosedale).  Reisterstown VFC already shuts off the siren at night and functions fine without it.  There is no reason they can't turn it off completely.

By signing this petition, you are requesting that the Reisterstown Volunteer Fire Company immediately cease using their house siren permanently.  Though not required when signing, if you care to share your reasons for signing in the comments section, that can be helpful to our request.

We truly appreciate the dedication and sacrifices the RVFC volunteers make every day, and this petition is in no way meant to show any disrespect to those volunteers.  It is only meant to show equal respect for the neighboring residents and businesses of the firehouse that wish to live and work in peace.

**IMPORTANT NOTE**  We are NOT collecting any money for this cause, so just select "skip" on any prompts for donations that come up in the signing process.  There is no cost to sign the petition.  If you do not want your name displayed on the petition site, you may select the option not to display your name and comment publicly on the petition page, so that only the petition creator can see it.