FDNY Alarm system

[Guest]

This piece was in today's NYTimes:

May 7, 2006

The Basics

How a Major Fire Avoids Becoming a Three-Ring Circus

By KAREEM FAHIM

A monstrous blaze that destroyed warehouses on the Brooklyn waterfront last week went to 10 alarms, fire officials said, using an insider term to describe what they called the biggest fire in the city in a decade, apart from the World Trade Center disaster.

Firefighters say the number of alarms is partly a measure of a fire's ferocity, but more a reflection of the decisions made by the commanding officer at the scene.

Every time a chief transmits an alarm code, a detail of firefighters and ladder trucks, engines and other vehicles is dispatched. Each alarm level — second, third and beyond — brings a prescribed amount of people and equipment.

In New York City, the system formally goes to five alarms, and after that, chiefs ask for additional alarms as they need them.

It's important to ask for more help before it's needed, said Richard Travers, a deputy chief who retired in 1998. "You should always have companies standing next to you doing nothing," he said. "You want to stay ahead of the game."

John Kenny, a retired lieutenant who volunteers at the New York City Fire Museum, said the city's system has remained largely intact for more than a century.

Beginning in the late 1800's, fire chiefs used a telegraph system, tapping out codes on fire boxes that were connected to a dispatcher in Central Park who forwarded the messages to specific firehouses. In 1973, the system was replaced with squawk boxes. A computerized system is used today.

In the old days, a so-called borough call meant a fire was particularly large, requiring help from firefighters in other boroughs.

How big, in alarm terms, was the destruction of the World Trade Center? On Sept. 11, 2001, after three five-alarms had already been called, a signal went out for a "total recall." That command, rarely issued, ordered all firefighters and officers to report for duty.

[JBE 328]

I've heard a couple of different counts for September 11th. I think it was somewhere between 16 and 20 alarms. This is including the 3rd alarm for staging in Brooklyn. For anyone who doesn't know what they mean by a Borough Call, It's actually a pretty simple concept. I'm doing this from memory, so be patient. Let's say for arguments sake, a 5th alarm has been transmitted for Manhattan Box 715(5th Ave. and W 34 St. Bonus to anyone who knows what's there.) The chief needs more help. So he requests a Borough Call. The way it worked was, you would send an assignment from a particular box in another borough to Box 715.

Example: A second alarm assignment for Bronx Box 3133(Vyse Ave and E 179 St) would be dispatched to Manhattan Box 715. From how it was explained to me by the old timers, it was usually a third alarm assignment of engines and trucks. I think the bells went like 3-3-3133-5-5-715(Bronx and Manhattan use the same borough identifier). Throw in Queens or Brooklyn and it got interesting. Relocations on the bells were apparently a lot of fun too. If anyone has any questions about the bell signals, let me know. We still use them in record keeping when the computer crashes. We still use the "Squawk Boxes", it's called the Voice Alarm, and we test it every day at 0845.

Edited May 8, 2006 by JBE

[TRUCK6018 50]

5th Ave. and W 34 St. Bonus to anyone who knows what's there.

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That's an easy one. The Empire State Building.