New York Gamewell Systems - Letters A-M

[Box 2565]

Towns both large and small use running cards.  Jamestown, New York used this style card for their alarm system in the 1970's.

Box 3121 provides for an alarm assignment of up to 3 alarms.  An interesting feature is the listing of hydrant pressures of nearby plugs.

[JJ_JAMMER]

I agree with you on your post regarding Jamestown Fire. I am sorry to report that Engines' 1, 2, and Ladder 2 are no longer in service as open companies. These trucks are now listed as reserve apparatus. The city of Jamestown now has 3 active engine co.'s and 1 ladder co. ( although with the recent 5 layoffs and unfilled retirements, 1 engine is closed at all times on a rotating basis).

[Erie_Gamewell]

Posted by: JJ_JAMMER Posted on: Jul 8th, 2002, 7:30pm
I agree with you on your post regarding Jamestown Fire. I am sorry to report that Engines' 1, 2, and Ladder 2 are no longer in service as open companies. These trucks are now listed as reserve apparatus. The city of Jamestown now has 3 active engine co.'s and 1 ladder co. ( although with the recent 5 layoffs and unfilled retirements, 1 engine is closed at all times on a rotating basis).  

Jamestown is always busy on fire calls. what a shame they run so shorthanded. atleast the " red box on the corner" are still there.

[Box 2565]

Information Taken From A Represenative List of Gamewell Installations in the United States as of 1941.  
     
Does anyone out there have any of the following information? Which towns still use their street box system?  How many boxes are in the system and are gongs still used in the fire houses?    
     
If the system has been removed, when was the system discontinued? What became of the fire alarm boxes, registers, and gongs? Are any of these items still owned by the town where they could potentially be sold to collectors?  

New York Towns with names beginning with the letters A-M
Addison
Alexandria Bay
Albany
Albion
Amsterdam
Auburn
Baldwinsville
Batavia
Beacon
Bellerose Terrace
Binghamton
Brockport
Buffalo
Canajahoria
Canandaigua
Canastota
Canton
Carthage
Catskill
Casenovia
Cedarhurst
Cheektowaga
Clyde
Cohoes
Corning
Cortland
Coxsackie
Croton-on-Hudson
Delmar
Depew
Dobbs
Ferry
Dolgeville
Dunkirk
East Rockaway
East Syracuse
Eggertsville
Elmira
Elmont
Elmsford
Elmwood
Endicot
Falconer
Floral Park
Fort Plain
Fredonia
Freeport
Fulton
Geneva
Gardenville
Glen Cove
Glens Falls
Gloversville
Goshen
Gouverneur
Greenport
Hancock
Harrison
Haverstraw
Hempstead
Herkimer
Hicksville
Homer
Hornell
Hudson
Hudson Falls
Ilion
Irvington
Ithaca
Jamestown
Johnson City
Johnstown
Kingston
Lackawanna
Lancaster
Leroy
Larchmont
Liberty
Little Falls
Liverpool
Lockport
Lynbrook
Lyons
Malone
Mamaroneck
Massena
Mechanicville
Medina
Middletown
Mineola
Mohawk
Monroe
Mount Kisco
Mount Vernon

[Anonymous]

Lackawanna, NY removed their street boxes about six months ago. Only master boxes inside buildings remain.

[daysleeper47]

Bellerose, New York
For those of us that are Gamewell fire alarm fanatics, the Nassau County village of Bellerose makes our approval list with this offering, at the corner of Commonwealth Boulevard and Huron, a block south of Jericho Tpke.
The pull lever was certainly a relatively recent replacement from sometime in the last few years. Unlike the alarm locations inside New York City, which are noted by a small amber lamp, Bellerose and many other areas use a small blue light to designate the existence of an alarm at the corner.

Shot July 7th, 2001.
http://streetlights.tripod.com/fixtures/phcwbgamewell.htm

[Box 2565]

Hudson, New York

I believe that the alarm system was installed in the late 1800s. The system consisted of numerous street boxes with 3 digit box numbers, bells and a ticker tape in the 6 firehouses (actually J. W. Edmonds Hose Co #1 and Phoenix Hose Co #5 shared a ticker tape and bell in a common wall), an audible air horn alarm system on 3 of the stations (1's, H.W. Rogers Hose Co #2, and Washington Hose Co#3), and of course the wiring to connect this telegraph system. I do believe there was a ticker tape any where else, but there may have been a bell at the Hudson Police Station.

I do know that before radios they would put a bell attached to the system in the house of the Chief. (My wife would have loved that.) I don't know if that was a tradition for all Chiefs and the assistants, but I do know that Ed Hofem Sr., who was Hudson Commissioner of Fire, had an alarm bell in his house. Ed was a member of my company (Edmonds) and his son Ed, Jr., is our oldest living member.

Hudson was zoned for engine response based upon the fire alarm box numbers. The numbers were from 112 (Front & Cross Streets near the river) through 441 (Hudson High School) . Zones 1 and 2 (boxes with the 100s & 200s) were the lower part of Hudson near the river. This was where the vast majority of major fire occurred. Zone 3 (300s) was the downtown area away from the river, near the Edmonds & Phoenix station. Zone 4 was the uptown, mostly residential area. That is where the Firemen's Home and high and middle schools are.

Our engine response was based upon the zone. Up until 1998, when we closed Phoenix Hose #5, we had 5 engine companies and the ladder. The ladder, and our rescue which was run by C. H. Evans H&L Co #3, responded to all box alarms. J. W. Hoysradt Hose Co, #8 also responded with their engine to all box alarms. Rogers Hose #2  and Washington Hose #3 responded to zones 1 & 2 while Edmonds Hose #1 and Phoenix #5 had zones 3&4. This gave us 3 engines and the ladder to most boxes, with 2 engines in reserve.

Many of the boxes were General Alarm boxes meaning that all apparatus responded. This was for large buildings and schools.

When street box lever was pulled, 3 things happened. 1) the box # would be punched in the ticker tape, 2) the bell would ring for each punch, 3) the air horn blast would sound for each punch. In later days, we would also be radio dispatched. The alarm would cycle 3 or 4 times (I can't remember which).

We also had a number of special alarms. The most notable was the General Alarm. This in effect was a call for all apparatus and firemen and indicated a major fire. The alarms would ring 6-6-6. In addition to all firemen, it would bring crowds of people to our fire. When an alarm was terminated, the chef would call for the "Out Tap". That would be a single punch/bell/air horn indicating that all was well.

Another special alarm we had was a "Still Alarm", or a "2 Tap". That was usually for a gas spill or a minor fire not involving a structure. That was for a single engine and the first engine to call in to the fire control center usually got the alarm. It could be crazy at times because everyone wanted to answer the stills.

There was also a "3 Tap" which called the rescue truck only.

Special calls for a specific piece of apparatus was 5-1 (Edmonds), 5-2 (Rogers), 5-3 (Washington), 5-4 (Evans H&L), 5-5 (Phoenix), 5-6 (Hoysradt 8s), and 5-7 (Fire Police), These calls were usually for mutual aid.

There were other calls. A "10 Tap" at 7:00 a.m. on a school day meant that school was closed, usually because of snow.

All of the above is no longer how we operate.

Shortly after I joined the FD in 1972, the Gamewell street boxes were replaced by street boxes that included a radio transmitter. These boxes had the traditional fire pull lever and also had a Police push button at the bottom of the box. The remainder of the Gamewell system was cobbled up to work with this new electronic system and we were still receiving the ticker/bell/air horn notification along with radio dispatching. Some where
along the line, a Vic Commodore 64 computer was integrated into the system and a Vic PC was put into both Hudson P.D. and the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

This electronic street box system was terrible. It increased our false alarm runs dramatically. It also increased the call volume for HPD. The maintenance costs was high, and there were often many of the boxes out of service at any one time. By the 1990s, it was evident that this electronic system did not suit our needs. However, the Fire Chief at the time was also the city electrician, and repairing the alarm system was a major part of his job, so the system stayed.

In 1997, when we had a new Fire Chief come in, the FD agreed to the removal of the street boxes. The trade off for this was to buy a Motorola pager for every active firefighter. Whereas the city supplied only line officers and the most active firefighters with pagers (we had about 30 city owned pagers at that time) when we had the street boxes, we purchased about 100 more pagers over 3 years as the street boxes were phased out.

Until 1998, we were still running the same way with the new system the way we did under the original Gamewell system. We were zoned with a minimum response of 3 engines. In September, 1998 we eliminated Phoenix Hose Co, No. 5. To guarantee 3 engines, Rogers Hose #2 was given the added responsibility of responding to zones 3 & 4 in addition to their original response of zones 1 & 2. They, along with Hoysradt Hose #8, were city wide engines, while Edmonds #1 and Washington #3 remained zoned.

In late 2001, Washington Hose #3, the 3rd oldest volunteer fire company in NY state (after Hudson's own Edmonds #1 and Rogers #2), was closed. At about the same time. we eliminated the computer system that ran the ticker tape/bell/air horn. We have joined the 21st century and are now entirely radio dispatched. No street boxes. Nothing audible anywhere. The remnants of the Gamewell system are still at the firehouses. The ticker tape, bell, and air horns with compressor, but none of them are in use.

Being only radio dispatched does lead to complaints because the general public no longer hears the 6-6-6 which indicated a major fire and which brought big crowds to the fires. We now often operate in anonymity at large fires.

Hudson is changing big time! It has become a suburb of New York City. The parking lot at the Amtrak station is constantly being increased in size. The Hudson Amtrak station is in the top 10 Amtrak stations nationwide for number of passengers. Many people commute to NYC daily. The downtown area is all antique shops, art galleries, upscale boutiques, and restaurants. Multiple family rental units are being converted to single family upscale apartments. Our volunteer firefighters, a large portion of who are renters, can no longer afford to live in the city.

However, the oldest volunteer fire department in NY state continues to do well. A new $3.8 million staion is more than halfway completed. We will be moving Edmonds Hose, Rogers Hose, Evans H&L, and the Fire Police there by the end of the year. Hoysradt 8's will remain in what is currently our "newest" firehouse (1925, We just received a $303k FEMA grant to upgrade that station with a Plymovent exhaust system and fire alarm system).

We have about 120 active (OSHA qualified) firefighters. We have a strong junior firefighter program which is affiliated with the Boy Scouts. Once we get into our new station, we will make an effort to recruit some of the "new" people who now live in Hudson full time and who run businesses here. The new people in Hudson tend to be liberal and are involved in many causes. We hope to make the Hudson FD the cause for some of these people. We have already attracted an independent film maker and a retired college professor.

For the most part, things are well with the Hudson Department of Fire.

Neal


Our thanks to Neal Van Duesen of the Hudson F.D. for this history of their alarm system.

[Erie_Gamewell]

Their system was in service a couple of years ago, but when I went through there this past summer street boxes were removed and it looks like only disconnected master boxes remained on some buildings.

[Erie_Gamewell]

disconnected wire to box 41

[Erie_Gamewell]

box 12 in J-town

[Erie_Gamewell]

side picture

[Erie_Gamewell]

J-towns Engine -3 w/ an alarm box in front.

[Erie_Gamewell]

close up of custom alarm box

[Erie_Gamewell]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=396&item=3965738771&rd=1

about 12 hours left as of 0020 hours your time.

[mlmummert]

And I'll repost the same comment I made which is that thing is dangerous.  It's a fire alarm pull station that doesn't do anything (barring the highly unlikely possibility that there is a microswitch on the pull lever which is monitored internally.)

Since the box is no longer functioning and will never function again, the box, or at least the pull lever, should be removed promptly.  Another lost reply from somebody else was that in this town, the master boxes are privately owned rather than belonging to the town.

Removing it does take some cooperation with the property owner.  If the box has a shunt auxiliary, you can simply cut off the shunt loop and abandon the part in the building.  If it has a circuit monitoring the status of the auxiliary position, that has to be disconnected in the building.

If it is a local energy type, then you have to disconnect the auxiliary circuit at the internal fire alarm panel or else it will energize anytime the alarm system in the building activates.  You might also have to modify the alarm panel so that it doesn't give a city box trouble indication constantly.

The easiest thing for the municipality to do would be to just take the pull lever off and leave the rest.

Matthew Mummert