A familiar sound has a small community in Stanislaus County jumping out of their seat.
A century's old fire horn was refurbished and now it blares its loud call 3 times a day, every day! The fire horn belches a deep howl from the Oakdale fire station. The toots were a touchy topic in Oakdale's last city council meeting.
"It goes off 7 days a week. Why?" asked one resident during the meeting.
Council members gave little reason.
"This was the dispatch system when the fire department was all volunteer." said Oakdale Fire Captain Dan Cummins.
The horn was operated by an old pendulum clock. Inside is about a dozen different brass gears the size of a half dollar. The horn is controlled by the clocks complicated mechanisms.
"It was operating since the early 1900's," Cummins said. "the clock broke sometime in 2005."
Cummins says they tried to fix the clock but couldn't find a company that could get replacement parts. The horn remained inoperable for nearly 10 years. A storm nearly blew the horn off the fire station this year. That's when a few fire men and public works employees decided to give it a makeover.
"Radios and Cell phones have replaced the need for the horn today, but the horn has been around so long that it's become a tradition." Cummins said.
A make shift sprinkler timer replaced the century old clock. Now the horn goes off at 7 a.m., 12 p.m. and 6 p.m.
"When I hear that horn it reminds me of when I was a kid and it let me know if I was late to get back to class from lunch." said Oakdale native Sal Rodriguez.
To him it's nostalgic. A piece of history unique to the community he grew up in.