NEW YORK (AP) — There were times by the end of his shift that firefighter Joseph Nardone's head would be pounding, his eyes crossing from the noise level.
The retired Fire Department of New York battalion chief is one of about 4,400 current and former firefighters around the country who are suing Federal Signal Corp., the Illinois-based company that makes sirens.
Marc Bern is the attorney leading all the various lawsuits. He says it's a product liability issue.
He says Federal Signal could have made the sirens in a way that channeled the sound away from where firefighters sit in the truck.
Federal Signal attorney David Duffy says that would have posed a danger to motorists who need to hear the engines coming.
Cases are pending in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Illinois.