Malicious False Alarms

[marcshark87]

This is no laughing matter but I know (not personally) that some (some)
hooligans probably get their jollys out of pulling false alarms via street boxes
and pull stations in random buildings. There maybe or was possibly at some point
"pulling sprees." I'm sure the police and FD's don't think it's too funny; it's
a waste of their time and money. Not to mention it's dangerous too, I understand
what if there was a REAL emergency and crews and apparatus were sent to a
malicious pull instead... Bad news! A false alarm could cost a life.

I am wondering, what is the ratio of false alarms responded to (via street boxes
and pull stations in buildings) versus the number of actual fires/emergencies
responded to?

Do the pro's outweigh con's of manual signaling systems? On average, are more
REAL emergencies reported by means of "pulling" an alarm?

Not to hit on a firey topic (pardon the pun,) but I'm curious.

-Marc}-^,>

By the way, I'd never ever pull a false alarm! I'll stick to my own Gamewell Box
for demonstration purposes!

[almdoc]

     Depends on where you are. In Wheeling WV were I'm from our system was pulled in 1990. Our MFA's from street boxes ran about 90%. Our FA's from master boxes were the same as they are now, 85%. The difference was time. A master box alerted us within the amount of time it took one round to come in, 30 seconds. Now it takes several minutes from the time the alarm is tripped to the time dispatched is called by a monitoring company and they send us out by radio. Those several minutes make a BIG difference in the development of fire or the damage done buy a broken sprinkler line.
     In Schuylkill Co PA there are 6 boroughs that still use telegraph systems. I work on their equipment and the historical society assists in maintaining them. There is no false alarm problem there. All 6 systems have only street boxes. No masters. In the past several years 95% of working structure fires in the comunities that have box systems have been reported via the alarm boxes with no calls or after the fact calls to 911.
     One other thing to think about is call volume. If you numbers drop the "powers that be" may decide that you don't need as many men or stations as you have now. Guys will b**ch about running false box calls until they relize there gonna lose ther jobs because th e department as a whole doesn't have as many runs as they used to. For volunteers the town that funds or contracts with them for fire protection may decide they don't need that new truck or cut their contract price for protection.
     You can talk till your blue in the face and never prove to me that these systems are obsolete or no longer needed. I'll shoot you down every time with reliability, redundency, location, language barriers and speed. Properly maintained they are still and will always be the fastest and most reliable way to alert the fire department !!!

[magicitybill]

In the mid to late 1970s Montgomery, AL had removed all of their street boxes except some in the downtown area. They were scheduled to be removed soon. An afternoon fire in a down town building was discovered by the occupants who went to phone it in, but found the phones dead due to the rapidly advancing fire. As I recall a passing Police officer went to the soon to be removed street box and turned in the alarm. What if?

[firebox_417]

I agree 100% with the Alarm Doctor. I'm sure that there are a lot of "city fathers" out there who voted to pull the Boxes who regret it. 

[Bs918]

With respect to all opinions rendered here on this subject I can speak from years of experience in urban cities and the false alarm problems. False alarms can kill  and seriously injure firefighters. In Youngstown we had  a few very serious injuries as a result of pulled  alarm boxes. In 2010 and the thought of someone  calling in a fire by pulling a box alarm is almost unbelieveable. That is not to say that there are communities out there where the old pole box system may work but the lack of communications in those cases seems to be prehistoric. Today almost everyone has a cell phone, and with the advent of 9-1-1 call centers it would be inpossible to dispatch the kind of equipment needed on  a box alarm. A phone call is the ultimate communications device, speed and accuracy is what counts and a caller can identify the problems in seconds followed by additional calls and additional information.  I can remember back to the 1980's in Youngstown when the boxes were still in place we would receive 5 phone calls before the box rang through its assignment, today I could not imagine what it would be.   The chapter of fire service americana and the alarm box is one that is I have the  greatest fondness and respect for. From the City Signal crew guys that worked to keep them running, to the Gamewell saleman that came to the fire department to sell them their stories and knowledge are legend. It is a part of the fire service past that helped create such an attraction to this honorable profession and  heirlooms  that  I hope last forever.

[FAO25]

While I posted this on another thread I would like to repeat it here.

Re: What communities still use fire call boxes?
« Reply #38 on: July 19, 2008, 08:18:52 AM » Quote Modify Remove 

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 It never ceases to amaze me when I hear "the number of false alarms" given as a reason for removing street boxes. The Fire Alarm Office where I work serves a "DOCUMENTED" population of nearly 100,000 people in an economically and pharmaceutically challenged community. We still have a 100 MA sytem with Auxilliary, Master and Street Boxes. Until a couple of years ago we were the E9-1-1 Primary PSAP for our city. Please let me tell you that if "number of false alarms" was a good justification for removing a reporting system the first one to go would be 9-1-1 followed closely by automatic fire alarms.
 Thirty years ago public payphones were given as a justifiaction for removing street boxes. Today most of these have been removed due to their use for dealing drugs or vandalism. One can debate wired or wireless systems but there is a need for a public reporting system independant of the POTS/PSTN. 
 When I was a firefighter we used to teach the old NFPA "Evacuate, Alarm, Extinguish". I would like to know how many people have died in residential fires crawling around in the middle of the night with a CO addled brain looking for their I-Phone to report the fire.

                                                 2-2  2-2 (All Out) on the rant

[Bs918]

Taken from the  April 1933 edition of the FIRE PROTECTOR publication titled "OVERCOMING FALSE ALARMS"  It has been found that the quickest and most reliable means for calling out the fire department is through the fire alarm box which must be readily available at all hours of the night throughout the year in high-class residential sections, business districts and the poorer residential localities as well


No mention of the iPhone

Seriously  by  installing smoke alarms in your home, keeping your home clutter free, talk about what you should do if there is a fire  with your family you will lessen the chances of having to use any communication device to call the fire department.

[START WATER]

      In the mid 60's in Phila  I was assigned to a ghetto eng co and we  would have around 15  or more false box alarms a night , then came the false alarm to get us to a location to be attacked  with  bricks etc/
      Some time in the  mid 70's  the city took out all the boxes
the city of Phila  stated  they checked all records  and never did the box  come in before a phone call in recent times  . If you believe any city i have a bridge  for sale  .   I could see  doing away with trouble boxes  , but not all the boxes.       
       i will never forget one  house fire  we had with three dead kids  it came in on  the phone system ,   The alarm room sent 1 Eng 1 lad and 1 BC    we  asked for the full assignment  , and a few hours  later we were returning to quarters  the box  on ther corner was pulled for a fasle alarm  twice before we  returned to the station  But was not pulled for the fire   Working  in ther ghetto  was  always a  strange  day     
     There is no perfect system   San Fransico  earthquake  a few years ago the phones died  but the boxes  still worked  ,  and in Tenn  a city was hit with a tornando that knocked  out a lot of cell towers
so no cell phones worked .   
      The fire museum  in Philly and Harrisburg  still have working  gamewell systems     You have to ask at the desk in philly to hear it  , we keep it shut off  so school kids on tours  don't  waste  the  punch paper. There is a photo i believe here in the fire museum section.


     
     

         
   

 


 

[kettenhund54]

Regarding my father's experiences as First Assistant Chief of the Oakland, California Fire Department, false alarms were a continual pain for the OFD. The majority of alarm box calls were false when he was working in the 1960's and 1970's. My dad's Operator carried a bottle of indelible ink as was issued to all chief's cars. Common practice was to "ink the box",that is daubing ink on the box hook to catch would be false alarmists. My dad related a couple of stories to me on how some kids and one adult male were caught by the inked boxes. One guy pulled a box and ran into a bar, my dad and his Operator spotted him and hailed a beat cop, all three went into the bar and checked everybody's hands and sure enough the "inked" culprit was caught. When I restored my old Oakland box a few years back, iI noticed that the once white hook had an encrusted layer of black ink on it. This is unusual as my box came from an upper middle class neighborhood in the Oakland hills which usually wasn't a problem area. Oakland removed all their fire alarm boxes in the later 1970's.

[START WATER]

   I Should  give  some credit to the Phila Fire Dept    they tried a lot of  ideas  to reduce  false alarms . First came the special  assignment  first eng and ladder only . would respond ,except for  center city .they would  strike ther box  and their was a good chance it was something  from rubbish to a fully involed  5 sty building .
   Next came the silent alarm ,no lights or sirens  within three blocks , to do away with the fun for kids .  The  ink idea was  used  except our ink   was not  seen till you wash your hands  and spread  it every where..A PIO operation went in to place to explain the ink idea  , so if  joe  shows up to work  blue  we got our man ,  Then they moved a box  from main corners to a side streets  with no one hanging out or a corner tavern
   Then came the best of all  all the flip doors to get to the hook were screwed  down and glass was place  to cover the hook. Some one or some group complained there were no instructions  as to what to do    Then we  got  stickers  and the glass came in three sizes
loads of fun in  the rain at 0400 hrs  .  I agree  today with cell phones  etc   we  cut way down on false alarms and fire apparatus  accidents  ,   so  we replaced the false alarm promes  with 1st responder runs . Now  no company knows  where anyone else is 

the pfd kept all the  box  numbers  but no boxes  so they send a tac box  2-2--1
on house fires    and a full 4-2-2  assignment  on buildings  , apartments  etc  sw