The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1877-09-26
Our rlrs Ainrm ,lr.len,.

~
Our fire alarm system, as II now OK.
Isia II n perfect farce and we wish toll
show our city authorities that " put
In perfect ayatem OF lire alOrm would
boa great benefit aud saying 90 the
city A. ltnow IL wo have only Two
small, cheap, bells located about one
mile apart, one al the lla1t Dallos ata'
ton and one NJ the downtown station.
has frequently occurred that the bell
In East Dallas would sound tho alarm
and the downtown station would not
catch II, aud vice versa, and II has
more frequently happened that the
alarm Of fire would be given and no
one know where to 40 TO look for II.
II was the case only yesterday that the
alarm was sounded, the engine etc.
were out on good time las they always
are) and run at least twenty blocks out
OF the correct direction OF the fire, and
In fact did not get the fro located un'
Til II was entirely extlnguised by the
citizens OF the locality. Now how can
we expect for our fire boys to do good
service how can We expect for our
fire apparatus. TO 20 rushing directly
TO the exact location OF the fire un-
less we have some way to indicate
the same? Our fire alarm system
Ia not sufficient. We have good fire
department, wehave good waterworks,
we have good horses, good fire appa'
ratus, but with all this we cannot ex.
pect good work TO DO accomplished II
we have to walt for the fire to get 30
far under Roadway az to locate itself.
1t costs our city money to keep up our
fire department, and no one will dare
say that we could do without it but
would II not be economy for our city
to make "A contract with some builder
OF fire alarm telegraph, to construct
an automatic fire alarm" which we
understand costs nothing TO keep in
working order except eight or ten dolN
lars a year, to re-charge the batteries
Now we can establish IA telegraph
alarm with, say five miles OF wire.
Say we locate on the five miles circuit
(Which can be added to Mt any time),
ten alarm boxes four In the first ward
and two each In the second, third and
fourth wards; every city officer, po-
liceman, private Waterman and fire.
man in the city furnished with key;
also one left at the residence or bust
ness house nearest the box. Should u
fire break out In the fourth ward, the
alarm could be at once located by I'M
locking the box and pressing the little
knob, which would Mt once give the
alarm to all the stations in the city
and also give the alarm to the ilremen
by the large bell striker, which can be
attached to any of or largest church
bells. This system is in practical oper-
alton in hundreds OF places, and is
found Indispensable wherever in Use.
We are informed that we can have
this complete alarm put in and guar
anteed to give entire satisfaction for
the sum of 81 800 or $1,000. This Ia a
small amount when we consider that
very likely we could save ten times
that much the first fire. Now let our
city authorities look into this matter,
and we believe 1t would pay the largest
rate of interest of any investment
that could be made. Don't be slow,
but take warning by Galveston, Hous-
ton, Sherman, Bremond, Paris and
other places, that have not given their
fire departments the attention 1t re.
quired.