1000 False Alarms A Year

Northern Advocate, 31 October 1936, Page 6 (Supplement)

1000 False Alarms A Year

system of fire alarms Is over fifty years old and is to be brought up to date. At present there are 1000 false alarms a year, due to defects in the system, and complete breakdowns have occurred. 7

But in every other respect London’s fire fighters are as up to date as any in the world. When a fire alarm, is pulled a small flap drops down on the station switchboard and the alarm bell rings.

At night time the station lights come on as well,. In a recent test it was shown that the escape and pump were out of tSe building in twelve

seconds. Imagine the six pips from Greenwich being sent twice over, and you can see what a quick “getaway” that is.

The latest weapon of the brigade is a ladder that extends for 100 feet. Made of steel and telescoped into the length of an ordinary fire escape, it can get to the scene of the fire at 60 miles an hour.

When it arrives the engine • that drove it is switched over to operate the extending ladder. A fireman takes his place on a small platform at the top, a hose is connected to a nozzle fixed there, and away goes the fireman to a dizzy height above the flames.

It takes only half a minute or so for the ladder to extend. The fireman may be out of sight to those below if the smoke is strong, but he can talk to them through a microphone, and answers come back to him through a loud speaker.

About a hundred times a week the alarm bells ring in the London area, but so swiftly are the engines at work that not more than one of those fires .is classed as “serious.”