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

NEw ENGLAND ASSOCIATION O17 FIRE CHIEFS
dial telephone is required at each location where there is a red network tele- ~
phone to enable those receiving reports of a fire to make necessary outgoing calls,!
This service was introduced fifteen years ago, and it is now being furnished
in some 200 communities served by the New England Telephone and Telegraph
Company. It is a very satisfactory service, and experience indicates, that it is
meeting, adequately, the needs of these communities.
The second part played by the telephone in fire reporting is comparatively
new. In recent years., the officials of a number of municipalities in Various
sections of the country have requested the local telephone company to furnish
information, concerning the installation and maintenance of an emergency
telephone reporting system, which would be available to the public. The firs!!
major installation of this kind in Bell System territory was made in Miami’,
Florida, last year.
In the territory served by our company, no such municipal system has
yet been furnished, although a request for a proposal covering a telephone
reporting system has been received.
As you may know, we are furnishing police reporting systems for the use
of police officers., and have been for many years. . ¯
We also furnish, upoff request, emergency telephone reporting s,ystems on
military reservations. These systems are quite similar to the service requested
by municipalities., because they provide for direct connection to a switchboard
in the post fire station, from a number-of outdoor telephones installed
in unlocked weather proof boxes at various points throughout the military
establishment. This service has been furnished since 1941, at. a number of
locations.
Upon the receipt of this request from the municipality in our territory,
we felt it was our respons:ibility, both as a ~ public utility and as a good neighbor,
to do whatever we could to assist with the city’s problems..
The Engineering and other aspects were studied in detail and information
was secured from other areas in the Bell System, where similar reques~ts have
been received. Our company recognized that the furnishing of such service
entails problems in connection with liability and would require the filing and
approval of appropriate regulations and tariffs.. No such approval has been
requested because the company has not received an orde~ for the service.
We advised the city making inquiry, that, subject to Department of
Public Utilities approval o~ appropriate regulations and tariff, our company
was willing to serve. We provided a description of a telephone system which
we could furnish, eX-plaining that the emergency reporting system would incorporate
special features, including continuous testing equipment, not ordinarily
required for telephone service. In general, the information ~?urnished
describes the type of emergency telephone reporting system which has been
in use in Miami, since August, 1953.
For your information, I have prepared a resume of the basic features and
methbd of operation of a typical fire reporting system, which, upon request,..
might be provided by the telephone company. Telephone instruments, equipped.
with retractile cords, would be mounted in suitable weather-proof boxes, a~
locations indicated by the city. The doors to these boxes would be withou~ i
locks, and equipped with special springs-f0r closing the doors. The city, in
addition to providing pole, pedestal or wall mountings, and, if desired, boxes
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