I live very near that darn thing. It's been broken now since November of 2008, almost 8 months, and I've not hear of any homes burning down due to firemen not getting the call. I know they use a variety of means to contact each other. As for the reasoning that the siren warns residents of an impending fire truck coming down the street; isn't that what the siren on the TRUCK is for? Come on, why do we need to cling to old means of warning of a fire? I mean, why not go back to using a guy banging a gong? I also heard one reason given was to warn of a tornado. First, when a tornado actually hit the neighborhood a few years ago, I don’t recall it going off. Secondly, how the hell are people supposed to know the difference between a regular siren and a tornado warning siren? Why can't they use the money they're paying to fix it to but new Minitors? For the same price can't you buy around 10 of them?