NEAFC 32nd Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

[NEw ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS
and you can’t get a conviction, unless you actually swear to the fact that you
see his hand on the box and you see him actually pull the alarm.
MOD~.RTOR WOOL~C: Thank you ..very much, Chief Marshall. There is
the viewpoint of a professional Chief.
Then, o£ course, we have the problem of the type of false alarm that comes
over the telephone, as well as the box. At this stage of the game, I want to
say this. We don’t want to enter into a discussion, that is, a controversial discussion
of the fire alarm box versus the telephone, and the supplanting-of boxes
~by telephones. That may come up a little later, and we certainly are going to
have a speaker ~at another session who will be discussing that matter, and perhaps
we might reserve our questions for that discussion and that paper. I don’t
wish to_embarrass him in his later discussion; but, I think that we ought to try
to arrive, here and now, at some solutions, if we possibly can do so.
We have had a viewpoint of a big city. Now, I should like to take an
area, a district, a township, where we may have both paid and volunteer
departments., and I am going to call upon Chief Potter, and ask him to give us
his ideas on this. question.
C~uF PoTTy.R: This has been a controversial subject, ever since I first
entered the fire service, and I have heard it discussed pro and con, many, many
times. Apparently, there has not been a great deal done along the lines of
clearing the situation.
The false alarm by box is generally perpetrated, by minors, or by inebriates.
However, we get a large, number of false alarms by telephone, and with the
introduction of the dial telephones, it is going to be most difficult to know
whether we have a false alarm or whether it is a misdirected alarm, for an
actual fire.
I believe that-some ~ore concrete action should be done along these
lines. Very possibly, this Association should take some specific action, either
in the appointment, o£a (ommittee to make a study of this situation, or at
least refer the matter to the Resolutions Committee, so that they can place the
Association on record, and possibly we can work in conjunction with other
organizations that may be working along the same lines.
I don’t think it would be well to have several individual organizations
making individual surveys. If we can work, in conjunctionwith some other
organizations, perhaps we will come up with a solution that will be a good one.
MOD~.I~ATO~ WooI~I~c: There is a thought that I believe is something
we could well pursue, if anything .is going to be done. In handling the
meaning o£ the false alarm situation, it is going to have to be done in concert
with .other organization’s, ~and t mean by that, the signal men, the National
Board, the N. F. P. A. and all the groups, which are affected by this. evil, and
it is an evil, and it is becoming worse.
So, I believe that. it might be well for me to make this. very brief statement.
The International has~a .Committee on Communications, which has
been authorized and empowered to pr.oceed with this investigation, and to
utilize the material we have on hand, to broaden the study,-so, that it includes
both telephone and box and all other forms of false alarms, and that we come
up with recommendations, which,he whole: fi~e service can consider~ and pi3ssibly
.adopt. .... .. _--~ =-~ ............ ~ ..........................