City to retire old siren
“Sept. 7, 1942 – “A new fire siren to be erected on the roof of Village Hall was ordered.” So states “Portrait of Progress – a History of Karlstad, Minnesota,” a book compiled in 1980 by the Karlstad Jubilee Committee – in a section entitled, “Village Council Meetings.”
A new siren will soon replace the old siren, which has served the community for over seventy-eight years.
City officials, who have knowledge of the siren, say it’s “worn out” and can’t be repaired another time; something is wrong with the control.
Jeremy Folland, representing the Karlstad Fire Department, brought the need of a new siren to the attention of the Karlstad City Council at its January 2020 meeting.
At that meeting, he suggested they purchase a rotating siren for a cost of $11,250, noting Department of Agriculture Funding would be available to pay for one-half of it.
Memories of the siren’s service to the community will remain. City council member George Hultgren related that a curfew for children once existed in Karlstad; consequently the siren would blow each evening at 10 pm. He noted that John Sollund served as a policeman in the community at the time and would tell children to go home or actually bring them home if they were out and about after the specified time.
