Fire Siren

We discovered even before our moving van arrived that a bit of history makes itself heard every day in Peoria. The West Peoria fire department is all volunteer, so the siren sounds loudly every time there is a call. To a semi traumatized former Missourian who has already spent a busy tornado season hiding in the basement waiting for storms to pass, the beginning of each alarm still raises the hair on the back of my neck. But then I notice the sunny sky with no forecast of rain and feel bad that my relief is someone else's life threatening emergency.

We live one block from West Peoria, in "Peoria proper" so our fire department is not voluntary, but the sirens are quite loud. I hear you grow used to them and no longer even notice after a while. We'll see.