Seventy retired and active firefighters from Scranton, Dunmore and Wilkes-Barre suing a siren manufacturer claim its devices caused hearing loss.
In five separate but similar lawsuits filed Tuesday in Lackawanna County Court, the firefighters — most of whom are retired — claim they suffered hearing losses from firetruck sirens manufactured by Federal Signal Corp. of Oak Brook, Illinois. The lawsuits claim the company made and sold the Q-Siren and e-Q2B models of sirens that exposed firefighters to “loud, excessive and harmful noise levels,” including “high intensity sounds within a narrow frequency range,” pitch and decibel levels that can cause permanent hearing loss.