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For FIRE, Open then Pull Down Hook
Nowadays, Gamewell makes modern Fire Alarm Control Panels, but it also still makes these fire alarm boxes, which are constantly becoming fewer in number. So let's take a moment and explore this relic from a past era in fire alarm signaling and notification, before modern fire alarm panels and pull-stations took their place.
While casually walking along the street in Roanoke, look what I found! Complete with stand, and a clever-looking topper.
The fire box, when you look at it closely, is actually two fire boxes put together. The side seen at left is the newer side, in one of Gamewell's more recent styles, whereas the side seen at right is an older style. It is believed that the older side was once a complete fire box, and for some reason or other, the inside was removed and the newer fire box was added onto one side of the old box.
So now let's explore the front side of the box up close!
At the top is Gamewell's tested-and-true fire box logo, with the hand grabbing the lightning. This logo is so classic for fire boxes, in fact, that when Randix made novelty fire-box-style telephones, they used the lightning-hand logo at the top of their boxes.
In case of fire, pull down the cover, and pull down the hook inside. These shots are the first to give evidence to the fire box having been repainted. On the standard-issue boxes, the "FOR FIRE" is painted in white, and then the "Open then pull down hook" is painted in red.
Inside, everything's still vintage, if not clean, and in case of fire, just pull down the hook, and that transmits an alarm to the central station.
This station is #422 in Roanoke's system. Why the number is on backwards, I don't know...
Made by, who else... Gamewell, from Newton, Massachusetts.
On the side of the box, in big letters, its purpose is identified - FIRE. And if you're thinking about pulling it as a prank, don't. A false alarm may cost a human life, if firefighters are responding to a malicious pull instead of a real fire.
Inside the Gamewell boxes, as seen in this similar box found on an eBay auction, the hook on the outside actually is a dummy hook, that pulls the real hook inside. Turning that hook activates the mechanisms inside, which transmit the alarm to the central station.
On the other side, age is evident.
Besides the older style of design, the effects of numerous repaintings are evident, as the Gamewell lightning-hand logo is almost completely obscured by paint.
One thing odd about this side is a darker-colored stripe along the middle of the box.
Down below, bolts connect the box to the decorative pedestal.
And all I have to say is wow... this was quite a treat to find, and am glad to have found it. |
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While I was in Roanoke, Virginia, shooting the photos for the last day of the Photo Essay Blitz before taking the fruits of my week of travel and pictures back to JMU to process them, I made a rare find - a vintage Gamewell fire alarm street box, still in service. If you recall, I've run across fire alarm boxes before - I ran across several in Washington DC. However, they had all been dismantled, as the system had previously been abandoned. However, this one was still in service, and intact. I knew from a previous visit several years ago that there were vintage fire boxes in Roanoke, but since I didn't find any on a trip a month and some before, I was afraid that they had been removed. Thankfully, that was not the case.
