The Portland daily press., 1890-10-18

To the Editor of the Press:
In the PRESS report of the fire In Jose
block notice the following:
Mr.. Fowler, janitor of the Oxford building, dis.
covered the blaze, and called TO the Waterman of
the Casco Sank to pull in the alarm, but he had
poice station and MIR. Cummings, the electrician,
pulled In the first alarm. The second alarm, it is
said, was pulled in without orders.
This recalls to mind the old story oil Chick
en- Little. Chicken Little, out in the garden
one day, ran under bush and a leaf fell on
his tail. He got awfuly excited and ran
round screaming that the ''sky was falling
and the alarm passed from Chicken Little
along the line to Goose Loose; then Goose
LDose said to Fox Lox, THE sky is falling"
"How do you know. Goose Loose?" duck
Luck told me-" "Duck Luck, how do you
know?" "Hen Pen tole me-" "Well, Hen
Pen, how do you know?" Why, Chicken
Little told me-" Well, Chicken Little, how
do you know" Why, l saw it with my
eyes, heard it with my ears. and part of it
fell on my tail. "Well," said Fox Lox, now
all of you lun right into my den and the sky
won't hurt you" They all ran in, the sly
old Fox the last one. He then closed the
door behind him and ate them all up at his
leisure.
And so 1t is with our fire alarm boxes. A
fire is discovered by Tom, who has no key to
the fire alarm box and does not know where
to get one. He runs and tells Bob, Bob runs
and tells Dick, Dick runs and tells Sam, and
Sam tries his key, but having carried 1t In
his pocket for some time. it gets filled with
dirt and don't work: so after trying some
five or ten minutes or less, he runs to the po-
lice station or to an engine house, and at last
the alarm is sent In. Meanwhile the fire has
rapidly gained, and a fire that might have
beDn stopped with small loss, runs up into
thousands. The delay at the Thompson fire
on Union street caused a loss of some $780,
600 or $4,000 that might have been but a
matter Of some $4,000 or $1,000, il there had
not be- such long delay In sending In the
alarm after the fire was d scovered. That is
beyond dispute. Had we keyless fire alarm
boxes. or evel a small box with a glass
front enclosing a hey attached to
chain at the side of the alarm
box, whence the alarm could be instantly
sent in as soon as discovered, it would be an
immense Improvement over our present sys-
TEN. Portland Is about the only city of any
size in New England that has not profited by
pest experience in this matter of fire alarm
boxes. Lewiston is far ahead of us in this
line. Why we cannot have the change made
here in this city is perfectly accountable to
| the Portland Board of Fire Unwriters and
| to the five hundred more or less of the lead
Ing business men and real estate owners of
this city. who handed la to the city govern
ment ABOUT year ago petition as follows:"
To the Honorable Mayor, Aldermen and Com.
mon Council Of the City of Horttdnd:
The undersigned, citizens Of Portland, realiz.
ing the importance of the fullest protection
Of s Eessgg p a loss
Alarms because the fire alarm boxes were not ac.
cessible. hereby petition your honorable body to
take such action as will put said boxes In CON
dition that any person discovering fire, may be
able to give the REQUIRED alarm without delay In
our opinion, the locking of these alarm boxes is
serious nindrance to the prompt announcement
and suhduing OF fires, and should be immediately
discontinued
Respectfully submitted:
That petition was referred to the committee
on fire department, and by them "laid on the
table" and there it still lays, and lays still,
too. Meanwhile the fires come and rage, and
nothing Is done to prevent the evil COM
planned OF. The expense of equipping every
box in the city would not probably exceed
The latest adyices that have from New
York city say ''keyless fire alarm boxes will
soon replace all of the old style in New
York city, The only objection urged
may be sent in. In answer to that quote
an extract from letter that / received from
the Boston board of fire commissioners:
I'VE have had very few false alarms from
these keyless boxes, and have had them in
operation more or less for six years" Why
should this city fare any worse than other
localities In the matter Of false alarms? Ev-
cry city that places them in, increases the
number year after year, and why should our
city government longer delay in this very i'm
pOrtant matter? Echo answers, WHY? De-
lays are dangerous!
1t would be even better to have a false
alarm sent In once in while than to have
our citizens running all over town to find
somebody that had key to send In an alarm
every time that fire is discovered.
WILLIAM ALLEN, JR