THROUGH "MIKE"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 284, 30 November 1944, Page 4

THROUGH "MIKE"

FIRE ALARM SYSTEM

ADELAIDE INNOVATION

South Australia possesses a fire alarm system which is creating considerable interest throughout the Commonwealth and overseas. The system has been in operation in suburban towns for four years, and has recently been installed in the Adelaide metropolitan area.

Invented by Mr. E. M. Angus, chief electrician of the Adelaide fire brigade, the alarm comprises a call box fitted with a microphone. In the event of fire the glass is broken, the button pressed, and a fireman answers at the station. Indications of a caller wishing to report a fire are received in the fire station control room by the illumination of a frosted glass window, on which is written the location of the street call bcx that is operating. For connecting fire auxiliary alarms in factories and large warehouses, where it becomes necessary to have some method of fire protection, a smaller call box than that erected in the streets has been developed. An enormous saving of time, manpower and equipment is claimed for the new system. In pre-"talkalarm" days signals received from large buildings very often resulted in the whole brigade arriving at a fire which could easily have been taken care of by one or two men.

Irresponsible or mischievous persons breaking the glass and pressing the button of the "talkalarm" can readily be detected. The operator's voice, by means of an amplifier, can be heard within 50 yards or more of the call box, and with the help of passers-by the person giving the false alarm can often be caught.

Discussing the system to-day, an Auckland authority said it was not unknown here, but so far as he was aware had not been the . subject of extensive investigation. While no improvement in auxiliary fire alarms should be overlooked, he doubted whether the Adelaide scheme bettered the duplex system adopted in Auckland—a system which competent authorities regarded as the best in the world.

A criticism he had to make of the "talkalarm" was that experience had shown that persons giving alarms of fire over the telephone were rarely calm and collected. Instead of giving their name, exact locality of the fire, etc., they invariably shouted excitedly, "Come quickly, there's a fire!" and rang off.

The advantage of a caller indicating the size of the fire and supposedly saving the brigade much trouble in dispatching one or more engines was a doubtful one, he added. There were two fires in Auckland in recent years which would probably have been described as small when the original alarm was given, but the flames spread so rapidly that they became majcr conflagrations, and had not all the resources of the city brigade and nearby suburban brigades been utilised the damage might have been even more extensive than it was. That was a danger always to be faced when talking about "small fires," and brigades in Auckland preferred to take no risks in such matters. It was better to go well equipped to a small fire than ill-equipped to a large one.