The sounding of the fire siren is a longstanding tradition at Lake Cowichan, and in many communities throughout the Cowichan Valley.
It’s a good one or a bad one, depending on who you ask.
One thing’s for sure, nobody seems to be neutral on the question of whether it should be silenced overnight.
We posed the question to readers on the Lake Cowichan Gazette and Cowichan Valley Citizen Facebook pages and were inundated with response — much of it in the negative. At least according to our Facebook sample, people at the Lake and elsewhere love their siren.
Those who attempted to articulate why it should continue to sound out through the still of the night made some good points, citing the long history of doing so and the importance of preserving things like this as part of Lake residents’ way of life. Many felt it enhances community safety, and really isn’t that intrusive.
But there are some good arguments on the side of silencing the siren, too.
On the pro side is that there are very good alternate (and quiet) means of alerting the community’s volunteer firefighters to head to the hall for a call-out. Research shows that communities that have gone silent have not experienced a diminishing of safety.
It’s also good to take a moment to consider those for whom the siren can be really disruptive, such as people with PTSD, the elderly and babies.
It’s not convincing, however, to argue that the siren could dissuade tourists. A minor, and temporary annoyance at best is hardly going to stop people from coming here, especially not those from urban areas where fire and police sirens are commonplace day and night.
It’s all certainly food for thought. Perhaps the compromise is a trial period, and re-evaluation afterwards.