Romney Forced to Silence Fire Whistle Overnight

Romney’s fire whistle is going silent between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The fire whistle is for Romney’s volunteer fire department. In rural areas, fire whistles are used to warn residents of a natural disaster or to beckon firefighters to respond to a fire or another emergency.

But in Romney, Fire Chief G.T. Parsons says a lawyer representing a town resident threatened a lawsuit if the siren wasn’t silenced overnight. He said the whistle was causing undue “noise, mental anguish and stress.”

Rather than go to court, Parsons told The Daily Mail the department decided to turn off the siren during the overnight hours.

Parsons warned that if the department’s paging system is unavailable, the siren won’t signal emergency responders during those hours.