Hearing Loss Suits Hit Siren Manufacturer

A firefighter from North Arlington is among 400 in the state -- and nearly 5,000 nationwide -- who are suing a national siren manufacturer, alleging that exposure to the device's noise left them with hearing damage.

Carmelo DeJesus' lawsuit, filed in Hackensack, is one of four that became public Tuesday out of Bergen, Passaic, Hudson and Essex counties, joining several others that have been filed in Illinois the past five years.

All are seeking damages from Federal Signal Corp., an Illinois-based siren manufacturer, and four New Jersey companies that distribute municipal fire equipment.

DeJesus, a 25-year veteran of the Hoboken Fire Department, claims the siren "emits intense noise at levels which, over time, are capable of causing permanent injury to human hearing." Repeated exposure to the sound damaged his hearing, he alleges.

The manufacturer never warned him of the dangers and made no effort to rectify the defect, says DeJesus, 48. As a result, his lawsuit says, DeJesus suffers from a high-frequency loss that -- coupled with aging -- will severely affect his hearing later in life.

"He has got the beginnings of a serious problem," said DeJesus' attorney, Alan Friedman. "As he gets older, it will hit him harder and sooner."

Officials at Federal Signal didn't return two phone calls Tuesday.

"Maybe [DeJesus] shouldn't be a firefighter if he is so sensitive to sirens," said Larry Kahan, president of Odyssey Automotive, a Wharton-based distributor that is one of the defendants in the lawsuit. "Every firetruck has had a siren since the turn of the century."

Officials from two other defendants -- Absolute Fire Protection Co. of South Plainfield and Continental Fire & Safety of Trenton -- didn't return phone calls Tuesday.

A person who answered the phone of another defendant -- Stateline Fire & Safety Inc. of Park Ridge -- called the lawsuit "unfounded." He identified himself only as "one of the owners" and declined to comment further.

Friedman said the sirens installed in many firetrucks are dangerous to hearing because they release high-intensity sound within a narrow frequency range. They are particularly harmful to the firefighters in the truck because they are "omni-directional," which means they release sound in 360 degrees, he said.

"Not only does the siren release sound forward as well as to the right and left, but it also releases sound backwards," Friedman said. "There is absolutely no reason for the sound to be released backwards, directed at the firefighters in the truck."

No verdict or settlement has been reached so far in any of several lawsuits that have been filed against the company in Chicago since 2002, Friedman said.

The lawyer also predicted that DeJesus won't be the last plaintiff to file a claim in New Jersey.

"There are many more in the same boat," Friedman said.

Republished with permission of the North Jersey Media Group.