Tall downtown buildings threatened to deflect the important warning sound away from its intended target, and so many were installed on 15-metre poles where rooftops were unavailable or too expensive to lease.ĭespite progress, Toronto’s system of air raid sirens was still incomplete in 1958 and remained untested into 1960. It was audible up to six miles away in some parts of the city, but almost impossible to hear on nearby Court St., proving the suspicions of civil defence officials. The first pubic test took place on December 7, 1956, when a siren mounted on top of a building at Yonge and Richmond wailed to life. The first 25 additional units arrived in Toronto in the Fall of 1956 and were installed along with those held in storage around the end of the year. Library and Archives Canada.Ī new batch arrived courtesy of the federal government later that year, though they weren’t the American-made Thunderbolt model the City of Toronto wanted. Advertisement for the Mobil-Directo brand sirens that were installed across Toronto. Toronto complained the electric sirens were too quiet, especially in the winter when people added storm protection to their homes, and susceptible to failure in the event of a power outage. A report suggested the 30 units could be installed for just $20 each, but still nothing was done by 1956. Ottawa asked Toronto to return its unused sirens later in 1954, and that appeared to spur the city into action. ![]() “Starved for money and staff, Toronto’s civilian defence officials frankly admit they would be caught cold unless there was plenty of advance warning of an attack,” the story continued, ominously. “These would be effective only if their control centres remained in operation.” “Without a control centre, a communications centre, or a warning system, the civilian defence officials, if an attack came today, would have at their disposal, in addition to telephones, some 700 to 800 taxis, equipped with two-way radio,” the Globe and Mail reported. The Toronto and York Civilian Defence Committee, which relied on roughly 3,500 trained volunteers, had an annual budget of $16,000 in 1954-roughly 8 percent of the amount allotted for the same purpose in Vancouver. Its homes are scattered up and down hills and ravines over a wide area.”)īefore the Diefenbaker government, responsibility for Toronto’s disaster response fell to a cash-strapped organization with just three full-time staff. (That said, a news report in 1951 suggested Toronto’s suburban sprawl might protect against widespread loss of life in the event of a nuke hitting downtown. There would be no time for citizens to hear a warning and take shelter. In the event of a nuclear or hydrogen bomb attack, much of Toronto would be reduced to ashes in seconds. because the local authorities still refused to pay the cost of installation.īesides, the city wasn’t sure the sirens would even save lives. In Toronto, the $750 devices were gathering dust in a firehall on Howland Ave. “Toronto just doesn’t seem able to get interested in ” officials in Ottawa complained.īy 1953, sirens were emitting mournful test wails in smaller Ontario towns, like Hamilton. Toronto received a shipment as well, but refused to proceed with installation without money from other levels of government. John, Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Victoria-received their warning sirens. In March, 1952, the first six Canadian cities-Halifax, St. The sirens would sound in the event of an imminent nuclear bomb attack or if there was danger from drifting radioactive fallout, perhaps from an attack on Detroit, Buffalo, or another U.S. ![]() ![]() In the past two wars, when soldiers in the trenches were attacked by mortar, they stayed and fought it out. ![]() “Many people think some welfare organization would evacuate them, where they would be fed and clothed. Provincial secretary Arthur Welsh said a co-ordinated system of sirens within the larger Greater Toronto Area would help in the event of a nuclear attack. “A bomb is not a respecter of municipal boundaries,” he said in 1951, adding that there was no plan to evacuate towns and cities in advance of an attack. Laurent commissioned 200 of electric, two-tone sirens from Scarborough company Canadian Line Materials, Ltd. The idea of a peacetime, nationwide air raid alert system started in earnest in 1951, when the federal government under prime minister Louis St. Disconnected long ago, it’s one of just a handful of relics left over from when Toronto and the rest of Canada was seriously concerned about being caught up in a nuclear war between the United States and the USSR. On top of a 15-metre pole sits a massive electric air raid siren. At Dundas West and Shaw, near Trinity-Bellwoods Park, there’s a conspicuous piece of Canada’s Cold War history.
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