Some were in rural areas like Cloverdale in Surrey BC. 35 years ago. They were used as the call-out for the volunteer fire department. When I was in elementary school we had an air raid siren on the school grounds and had regular drills. They still used searchlights when I was young. I think there were one or two at the PNE . During bad weather especially, I am sure they used them, for additional safety for airplanes landing in Vancouver.
I remember them being tested every month or so. I was born in Vancouver in 1955, and grew up in Richmond. The sound terrified me, kids didn’t know, or weren’t told, there was going to be a test, so I started looking for planes coming in, and something to crawl under if a nuclear bomb was dropped. I often wonder what being reminded every month by a scary siren, that might be telling you some people far away wanted to annihilate you and your friends, might have done to our psyche.
I distinctly recall 2 locations in the West Island Area of Montreal...one behind what was Bishop Whelan High School in Lachine (now the Pearson Electrotechnology Centre) and another behind the Dorval Theater in Dorval (Dorval Avenue). The mounting pole was identical to the one in your video, but the actual siren unit was like the one at 1:52. I also vaguely recall seeing this configuration in Dollard Des Ormeaux somewhere near the old Dollard Drive In (I think). That would have been around 1983
I clearly remember one in my hometown of Milton, located on Mary Street in a public parking lot, about a block away from the town hall. I cannot recall when it was taken down. But I always keep my eye out for any surviving ones.
