GameWell Operations in Lego Angeles.
The GameWell Corporation has installed over 1000 fire alarm and police boxes throughout the city of Lego Angeles. The boxes are located at every other street corner in the city, and located at special landmarks and locations throughout the city and county. The chief of the LAFD says that it was an operation well spent. The GameWell boxes are simple to operate and can replace the use of a cellphone in the event of an emergency.
History of GameWell in Lego Angeles.
The first GameWell box was installed in June of 1961. The boxes were only to be used in emergencies. They were mounted on cast iron poles on street corners. Unfortunately, many children then and to this day pull the boxes maliciously for fun. This can cause death or injury to firefighters responding as well as delay response times to a real emergency. The boxes should only be pulled in emergencies. When a box was activated, a signal would transmit to the Signal Office, and from there would then be transmitted to the proper fire stations.
How theY Work.
Inside each fire alarm box is a set of gears and spring mechanisms. When the door of a box is opened, and the hook is pulled, a spring inside releases the gear set. Each gear has notches in it. There are usually 2 to 4 gears per box. Each gear has a certain number of notches in it, ranging from 1 to 9. This is where the box number comes in. The box is hooked up to a bell and light. The bell will ring as the light flashes the number of the box. The first unit on the scene will unlock the box and reset it once a size-up has been radio-transmitted.
History of Station Alerting.
Before modern day technology overcame the fire service, many vintage and antique devices were installed in fire stations to alert the companies of an emergency. Each fire station in order to be properly alerted would need to have a bell and telephone. On receive of a long ring, the station captain would proceed to the office and pick up the phone. He would then announce his station number and wait for the fire dispatcher to give him the location of the fire and what apparatus was to respond. On receive of a box alarm, the bells would ring out the box number. The ticker tapper would then print out a tape containing the box number encoded in notches punched by the machine. The captain would check the location of the alarm box and see what apparatus was due from another station. He would then push the "Answer Back" button on the panel to allow the dispatcher notification of their response. Still alarms were rare, but when the occurred, the captain would alert the company with a long ring, and then notify the Dispatcher in the Signal Office. Today, each fire station has a bell and speaker installed. Box alarms are currently announced on the alarm screen and each rig responding will get a run card.
Diaphone Horns.
In accompany of the box alarms, every fire station has a Diaphone horn installed on a large tower on the top of the station. The Dispatch office has full control over them. Box Alarms and special codes are blasted out of the horns to alert either the firefighters or the public of a relay message. For example, when the horn blows two long blasts, and three short blasts, that means that School Sessions are cancelled. When the horn blows one long blast, and a series of other blasts, a box alarm has been activated. Each LA resident receives a list of the codes for the public once a month in the mail.