Update: Weather Likely to Blame for Fort Monmouth Siren
Notification system speakers disabled today
Inclement weather is the likely cause of a loud siren from Fort Monmouth that could be heard in Oceanport, Eatontown, Tinton Falls and beyond Wednesday night.
Timothy Rider, a public affairs specialist supporting the Fort Monmouth Caretaker Workforce, said Thursday that the exact cause of the alarm is unknown but the lightning and storms that rolled through Monmouth County "directs us to believe the weather was a factor."
The siren went off at approximately 8:30 p.m. and sounded intermittently for 90 minutes, Rider said.
The alarm itself is a remnant of the Fort Monmouth Mass Notification System, which was operational when Fort Monmouth was an active Army installation. Comprised of five speakers throughout the base, it had been used in various exercises in years past.
However, the system was no longer being used, and there are no plans to test it in the future, Rider said.
A supervisor from the Caretaker Workforce came to the Fort Wednesday night to disconnect one of the five speakers from its power source, Rider said, and the remaining four speakers were disabled today.
"Residents should not expect to hear the siren again," Rider said. "We regret any disturbance or concern this may have caused in the surrounding communities."
Sal
12:20 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012
WE__"the taxpayers on NJ" thanks to Gov. Christie are paying for NJ State Troopers stationed at Ft. Monmouth around the clock/2/4/365 since the base was closed. It will cost us over $1 million per year in wages and benefits to provide that State Police security. For WHAT? It is nothing but a Red Herring. All of Monmouth and Ocean Counties ALREADY have an excess abundance of Vacant office buildings, Vacant stores and Vacant warehouse space.
Smarter politicians than we have here in NJ would simply have told the military__Keep It we do not want it___and provide your own military security and your own military fire protection 7/24/365____ we do not want it or the added costs associated with it. It is the Military's problem___not the problem of the taxpayers on NJ.
Ricky W Kracker a.k.a. Diggy Swagga
12:31 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012
So this mysterious siren goes off, scaring the whee out of area residents. Clearly not some dinky perimeter alarm, but a Serious Take Cover Warning. And it happens weeks after unannounced Special Forces exercises unnecessarily frighten residents.
Something very strange is going on at the allegedly decommissioned Fort Monmouth.
And we'll never find out what it is - this latest incident will be swept under the rug too.
Because... we're in Monmouth County, not Middlesex, or Essex.
And somehow, we just don't count.
Edward Van Embden
8:27 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012
Though there's no official word yet, it does seem curious that a siren would just get turned on by accident and left on for the better part of two hours, though I guess it is possible. Maybe we'll find out after the fact, like when the helicopters were zooming in and out, that it was just another military exercise we shouldn't be worrying about, no matter how close to our homes it is...
Mesmerize
11:49 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012
Well, this has happened at least once before in the past 4-6 yrs?, when the fort was STILL open. I should know, because my house/property resides right up against theirs. The siren/alarm went off in the middle of the night (we're talking well after midnight sometime), and it was on FOR HOURS on end too. Unnerving! And I heard the same reason from people I work with (yes, I WORKED at the Fort too), that the alarm got stuck in the "on" position and it wasn't something that simple to cut off. So if it has happened once before that I know about, I can see it happening again, conspiracy theories aside.
But I do agree with Itchy Foot Moe's comment below... why is the alarm system still operational WELL AFTER the Fort has closed? Makes no sense to me either!
Itchy Foot Moe
8:22 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012
The question still remains and was apparently not asked by anyone reporting this story...
WHY exactly is this alarm system still operational nearly a year after the Army packed up and left the Fort to rot?
It was bad enough when the Fort was operational and they would decide to just "test" it in the middle of the day without warning scaring the bejebus out of everyone, you would think that with no one even really working there this system should have been dismantled along with the rest of their infrastructure.
Bob English
11:55 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012
I heard it when I came out of the FMERA meeting in Eatontown's municipal building last night a little before 9 PM. Sounded as if it were coming from the east. Never heard an alarm that sounded like that before. Would be interested to know exactly when/what is was used for.
Dentss Dunnagun
12:23 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
The same thing happens with my smoke detectors ...perhaps it's time to change the batteries
Fred M
10:11 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012
Maybe alarm was just what it was..A Simple MALFUNCTION..Why must a conspiracy be attached to everything? The Alarm is still on the Governments property...
Ricky W Kracker a.k.a. Diggy Swagga
1:31 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
Because... many local residents have never heard this siren before (although they've heard others).
And because this one, in particular, was a loud, area-wide warning. As one might expect with, say, a radiological release.
Has Ft Monmouth ever housed radiological materials? You bet.
Reason enough for an investigation? You bet.
Will there be one? Nope. What do you think this is, Manhattan?
We. Don't. Count.
JosephGhabourLaw
9:26 am on Friday, July 20, 2012
The main issue with the siren, rather, is emergency preparedness. A ladder and some wire cutters could have shut these sirens down. However, why was this system still running? Why was there no procedure -- on an abandoned base -- to contact the DOD to ascertain the issue?
rosemary sternbach
11:58 am on Friday, July 20, 2012
any other surprises left at Fort Monmouth...