Dennis F8 Fire Engine with siren

Most people don't know that many British fire brigades (e.g. Leeds, Huddersfield, Durham, Birmingham - but never London) had american-style sirens fitted to their engines from the mid-1950's onwards. This is a Wakefield City Fire Brigade Dennis F8 with Francis long-rolling siren at Preston Park Fire Engine Rally in 2015. I asked the currrent owner to operate the siren to show what they sounded like.

[@johntheobald3676]

In Cleveland Fire Brigade we were still using the rolling siren into the early 1980's

[@matthewsvideos8235]

I just saw a 1950 one of these near the west coast of Canada inside a barn among some GMC trucks in a private collection waiting to be restored.

[@audntyxj4m]

A Dennis F8 fire engine in Canada! Do you know if it was originally bought for Canada or has been more recently been exported to Canada?

[@tomjohnson9730]

I remember that Blackpool had sirens in 1950s.

[@0ne-6right40]

The Tokyo fire dept still uses the 1950s American police sirens to this day, and some Japanese brigades use electrified bells on their trucks.

[@paulmason4297]

Just to add that the electronic siren is a world wide standard nowadays.

[@audntyxj4m]

John that’s interesting. I lived in Edinburgh in 1990 and some of the engines still had air sirens then. My own area, Leeds, used them into the early 1970’s when the much missed two tone horn became standard. Paul I didn’t know Liverpool used air sirens. Thanks for the info.

[@0ne-6right40]

Liverpool definitely did. Some brigades in the city even had appliances fitted with both Two tone horns and mechanical air raid sirens. I believe that was a standard in Edinburgh for a while too.

[@firefighterfan2010]

A Cool Q2B old siren.

[@audntyxj4m]

Q2B ?

[@0ne-6right40]

@@audntyxj4mit’s a Francis, but uses the same traditional mechanics used to run the Q2B, and any siren with a rotating motor to generate sound. The Q2B is just a famous example of this.

[@paulmason8352]

Liverpool had American police car sirens until European two-tone horns were adopted nationwide from the mid 1960s until recently when electronic (US style) sirens have been adopted. The difference is that the modern sirens have no moving parts unlike the 1950s sirens.