Right downtown, surrounded by the post office, the major food store, Mead Park, an hotel and a casino, Coulee Dam's air raid siren wasn't just another unused fixture. The people of Coulee Dam took their siren seriously, both during World War II and later, during the Cold War years of the '50s and '60s.
The nearby
Grand Coulee Dam, still the largest hydro dam in the country, came online just in time to supply electricity for wartime industry in the Pacific Northwest. As such, it was considered a prime strategic target should enemy bombers venture over the continental U.S. As a result, The Town of Grand Coulee staged many exercises to test the town's preparedness in the event of an attack, each time using the siren to initiate the exercise. Today the fire department continues to use the siren as a fire warning, even using a short blast of the siren to announce meetings of the department.