Box Alarms

[JohnnyOV 2]

What exactly is a Box alarm? Is it a fancier way of using 10-codes? or something else?

[mfc2257 464]

A box is an area of geographic significance. It can be 1 building, or literally a boxed in area on a map. The box is then assigned a pre plan by the chief (or some type of committee) of the department. So for example, you are originally from Yorktown right?

A box in Yorktown might be just the high school, or it could be the area from 202 down 132 to rt 6 and back up the taconic again.... everything that is inside that box area has the same pre planned response.

The chief sets alarm levels for various types of alarms (1st alarm through 4th or 5th ususally) and pre selects the exact mutual aid apparatus that they want for that call. For example, in a certain box... Lets hypothetically call it Yorktown Box #1, for the first alarm of a structure fire the pre listed apparatus are L-51, E270, 271, 273, 274, 275, R16, T14. If the dispatcher recieves multiple calls stating a confirmed fire, they may advise the chief to upgrade to a second alarm right away. Well instead of the chief having to say, "Give me Tanker 10, Tanker 15, Tanker 16, E-253, L-10... The 2nd alarm assignment is pre programmed into the CAD. If the chief arrives and realizes he needs a 3rd alarm all he has to do is request the 3rd alarm, he doesn't need to think about his request because it's pre planned.

This makes sure the the closest and most appropriate apparatus is being chosen for each alarm assignement. At 3am when a Millwood chief is requesting a mutual aid engine from Chappaqua, there are three very different engines available. Which one suits the need for the call. IF you are in a gated neighborhood with steap approach driveways, E-144 isn't a good choice.... But of the two remaining choices E145 has a 3inch hose reel and the chief may need 5in... Well that only leaves E-146 as the appropriate choice...

With a box system in place, the decision to call for E-146 was made months ago while setting up the box assigments for that neighborhood not at 3am when the crap is hitting the fan.

[doug_e 0]

In the FDNY and other departments with street pull boxes will dispatch them as "Box" alarms vs. "Phone" alarms for alarms called in by phone.

In the 90's many departments began to eliminate their pull boxes. The numbers bare out that most fires are reported by phone and most false alarms were turned in by pullboxes.

[doug_e 0]

Have a look at these...

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENE...age/Alarms.html - Forgotten NY a great site and a good description of pull boxes in NYC.

www.gamewell.com/datasheets/CS-2261.pdf - A good spec sheet on Gamewell pullboxes

http://www.chinet.com/~plaws/fire/txt/BFD-4.txt - An interesting description of Phillies box alarm system.

http://www.schuminweb.com/schumin-web/phot...02/fire-box.asp Another description

Also the "Box" that was transmitted for the WTC on 9/11/01 was 8087....

[Guest WolfEMT]

In NYC, the fire pull box dates back to when the telephone was not a common household item. A caller would go to the corner and use the pull box to indicate that there was a fire. However, the box number did not fully indicate the address of where the call was; if there were more than one building as part of Bronx box 123, for example, then the responding fire fighters had to figure out where the fire was, and in some cases, had to go door-to-door to find it.

As telecommunications technology progressed and became cheaper, the telephone was introduced as a major household necessity, especially for calling in trouble via the pre-911 and current 911 systems. This eliminated the use, and to some extent, the need for pull boxes. In the 1980s and 1990s, as doug_e said, NYC pull boxes were subject to much vandalism and false alarm calls.

Just as an interesting caveat, although Mayor Rudolph Guliani removed a majority of the NYC pull boxes (some remain in areas where the population may or may not have access to telephones), FDNY still dispatches via the pull box number. A listing of all the FDNY box numbers can be located here: http://www.nycfire.net/boxlocator.php

[mfc2257 464]

Sorry... I guess I should have done into a little history... As the other guys stated, the old pull box system over time evolved into box assignments that dispatchers can use as a bible for getting the appropriate apparatus out the door on not only the initial alarm assignment, but to additional alarm assignments and upgrades as well. Gone were the pull stations on street corners, but what remained and evolved was the list of subsequent apparatus that was assigned to alarms in that area.

If you listen to most (not all just most) other states or counties..., you will usually hear a box number announced after the tones are done dropping. The list of apparatus that is announced following that box number is the preplanned list designated for the geographic area that corresponds to the box.

In areas of the country that have evolved to true box assignment systems, there is no longer dispatching of entire departments, but rather only of specific apparatus related to the emergency at hand, regardless of department. If Chappaqua had a wreck on the Saw Mill north of town, the chief would have preplanned the box to have the following apparatus dispatched like this... Rescue 23, Rescue 15, Engine 146, Engine 105, respond on the Saw Mill River Pkwy North bound just north of Readers Digest for a motorvehicle accident with entrapement (this would represent a pre planned response for Mt Kisco and CHappaqua to cover this call from both directions)..... If any one of those apparatus was unavailable, or if the chief needed additional units added, all he would have to do is request an upgrade to a second alarm (for example if Rescue 15 was unavailable, Rescue 10 would have been dispatched in its place on the initial alarm). Box assignement in the CAD already has the next apparatus that the chief planned out long ago listed... No need for the chief to think on the highway about what rig he needs next.

[JBE 328]

OK, let's see if I can properly explain this with half a bag on.

In FDNY Terms, a Box coincides with a corner on a map or a particular point on a map. Each Box number has a particular alarm assignment. Example, Queens Box 1782 is the corner of 151 Avenue and 85 Street. The units are assigned in order in 1,000 foot increments from the box in line of sight distance. If Box 1782 is transmitted Engines 331, 225, 285 and 236 are the First Alarm assignment, along with Ladders 173, 107 and 142 and the 39 Battalion.

The order of assignment goes in distance. We still use a box number to get a correct alarm assignment(for the most part) on all incidents received, be it Phone, Pull Box, ERS, Class 3, Verbal, etc. Back before CADS, if a Second alarm was transmitted for a particular box, the relocators would be saddling up upon transmission because that was built into the assignment card.

Mayor Giuliani, with prompting from Former FC and PC Howard Safir and a former FIRE DISPATCHER(SKELL) thought up this wonderful idea to rid the city of alarm boxes. The idea backfired when my union brought up the disabled(deaf and mute) and the poor(those who can't afford a phone). There are plenty of boxes still out there. I have to admit, as old and as antiquated as the system is or may be, it still works. For historical notes, 8084 was 1 WTC, 8087 was 2 WTC, and 8091 was either 5 or the parking garage of the WTC. I remember talking about box numbers with my cousin and mentioning 8084 and 8087 because prior to the 11th, they used to come in three or four times A DAY!!!! Back to the pull boxes for a second, imagine, if you will, having to sit there and count them as they came in. And getting it in two rounds.

Another note. With the exception of Queens, if you hear an 8000 numbered box, it is either a special building(School, Hospital), or a highway. Queens has 8000 numbered street boxes.

Any other questions??? PM me.

[JohnnyOV 2]

wow! thanks alot for all the info, really helpful.

[doug_e 0]

That's the beauty of EMTBRAVO -

Seek and ye shal find...

So what was your question? Were you asking about geographic alarm boxing or pull boxes?

[JohnnyOV 2]

my question was mostly just what a box alarm is. I had no idea that there were wo kinds, but now i do. Thanks again all.

[JBE 328]

Now that the hangover has passed. Class 3 is our term for a privately owned internal fire alarm system, monitored by a central station(Ie, ADT). The types of alarms cover a myriad of activations, smoke/heat/CO detectors, waterflow, Class E(Office buildings) Class J(Motels/Theatres)

ERS is the 2 button talk boxes. The way an alarm is received may change, but the box number that is closest to an incident is used.