The Reedsport Volunteer Fire Department is replacing an important part of its emergency alert system, which to this day uses parts from the second World War.
RVFD said they are replacing two old fire sirens with newer, updated models. Fire department officials said the current sirens were purchased in the early 1950s, are energy inefficient, and have components that are extremely hard to find and replace. Douglas County has allowed the RVFD to use their tsunami siren on the Douglas County Courthouse Annex located on Winchester Avenue, which has been reprogrammed to sound like the old fire sirens.
RVFD officials said the siren system in Reedsport is a secondary alert system, meant to supplement a system of pagers that alert firefighters of a fire.