Alarm Traditions and Antiques

Ever look around your firehouse?
Our firehouse, isn't that old. It was built in 1973, occupied 24/7 ever since, 27 guys calling it home and protecting our town.

Up until a few years ago we were being alerted by 'red phones' a ring down system where a dispatcher picks up a telephone and it alerts station buzzers and we would pick up a red phone and the dispatcher would talk to us telling us where to go. This was the 'new' system that replaced waking up and counting bells and gongs (one is pictured below, hidden in the bookcase) in telegraph style to know who was needed and where (general addresses, usually) which was just 10 years ago (roughly). When I look around my house I see a Gamewell Fire Alarm box on the front, which sends a signal to dispatch for the CAD system instead of taps to say we need help. I also see the Protectolarm boxes Some are pictured below) on the walls for our red phone system. Currently, we use a CAD system that sets off bells and whistles in the houses across the city and a printer by our apparatus that prints out our destination and call information, then the information is sent to a computer and is ready and waiting for us to do our paperwork after the call. The red phones are history except for extreme emergencies and tested twice daily. Our radio system used to be tested every morning, dispatch would signal test time and do a 1-2-3-4-5----5-4-3-2-1 count and each unit starting with mobile radios would converse with dispatch then going to each of the 3 portable radios (even the out of service or as needed units). We have alarm boxes all over our station. Some of the pictures show the random placements to maximize the deafening level of noise that sounds when we get a call.

We have guys that think the '800' radio system is all we have ever had, truth is that this is the newest and greatest radio change we have had in years, before this the change from portables weighing 4-5 pounds to 1 pound was the best thing ever. Things change daily in this job, pay attention or things will change and pass you by. Right below is a picture of the horns that are all over the station to blast the alarms. They aren't quiet. If you think about it all of our changes are great, but why not use the old historical instruments we have in place and retain some of the traditional look and appeal we have had for so long.


My point in all this is that when you look at your station and in your closets and in the storage sheds behind your firehouses, think about the guys that used the stuff prior to you. Think about the advantages you have over the old guys and think about how they survived as long as they did. And think about the history you are creating. Most of our alarm systems would be considered antiques by most people, but I and most of our guys see them as our house bells and the way things should be.... traditional. To steal a phrase, one mans trash is another mans treasure.