Evening star., 1896-11-27
ONLY ONE FIRE BELL
A Change in the System Which Formerly
Prevailed Here.
II
Fire Alarms Are No Longer Sounded
ON Bells in Various Parts
of the City.

.,
The stirring peal of the fire alarm that
used to give warning of fire is hushed,
and people are wondering why they have
been Silenoed =,
Time was when eache section of the city
was provided with ars, alarm bell. Grad
ually. however. they have been hushed
and now the only bell that gives the citi-
zens warning of fire Is the one located
in the Riggs Fire Insurance building. on
14th street between G street and New
York avenue.
TIE fire alarm bells Of Washington did
a double duty in the days gone by Not
only did they designate the location of the
fire, but several times each day they pealed
forth the time of day according to the
standard time. When they were hushed
many protests were received by the Com
missioners from citizens who had become
accustomed to listen for the noon and
6 o'clock bell. ~
1t is argued that fire alarm bells are out
of date; that no city Of any size tolerates
them and that for the good of the fire
service they are not needed.
Chief Parris' Views.
Chief Paris at the present time favors
fire alarms and points out the many ad-
wants. ges of them 1t was while discussing
the advisability Of placing a big bell on
top of the new post office building that
the subject Of fire alarm, bells came up. He
said:
''The discrimination of fire alarm bells
has not been beneficial to the fire depart
ment. In fact, I believe since they were
done away with the service has suffered.
And the way this is possible I will explain
in very FEW moments. You know that
each day we allow on an average of two
dinner. and each night the same number
are allowed to spend the time at home
One of our rules specifies that whenever an
alarm Of fire Is sounded every man must
report Immediately for duty When we
had the bell alarm service, many of the
men off duty hearing the alarm would
hurry to the scene.
Now with the still alarm service these
men have no knowledge of a fire, and con-
seQuently cannot attend. The next day
when question ed by their foreman as to
the reason they failed to show up, they
simply say they did not know there was a
fire. And we can do nothing but accept
their word. When man has the true
IL stinot of fireman. the sound Of an
alarm will put him on the spot. no matter
where he Is or what conditions confront
him. So, as have already said the bells
did good service In this way. And l would
sincerely like to see them revived.
Attract n Crowd.
"As a general proposition. however, bells
are a nuisance. They bring a crowd to
the fire and give the fire men considerable
trouble. 1 have heard 1t argued that fire
alarm bells were necessary in order to
give every citizen an opportunity OF know
ing the location Of a fire. Several instances
have occurred in my recollection where
this warning has given "a citizen knowl-
edge of fire in his own residence Nearly
every business man carries fire alarm
card, and when the bali strikes he con-
suits it. If the box from which the alarm
was sent in is near his place of business
or residence he at once visits the scene of
the fire. .Trf
There is a way. however in which the
still alarm would work well. Now. don't
mean to argue against giving citizens an
opportunity of knowing where a fire is,
but for the purpose Of satisfying those
people who believe fire alarm bell Is
nuisance 1 think my plan is a good one.
1t certainly removes, all objection l have
to still alarms. Improve the several COM
panies. Give us twelve men to a company
and then we can sparH TIVE from each COM
pany during meal tipae, and still have
enough to successfully combat fire. You
can see for yourself that with fifteen COM
panfes and two men from each company abb
sent at time for meals, our department Is
seriously crippled! The bell alarm has in
the past brought 15umber Of these men to
the fire: without the bell and no increase in
the strength of the company you can see
how we are crippled But with more men.
as L nave alEt6uy Sdlus lib CdL All We
remeded."
From Another Standpoint. s..,.
Superintendent Miles of the fire alarm
and telegraph service. when questioned by
Star reporter concerning these bells, said:
mo order was ever issued to do away
with the fire alarm bells. They simply
became dumb by general consent, coupled
with some other considerations. Take, for
instance, the big bells on St. Dominics
and St. Mary's churches. They used TO
strike all alarms, until their pastors re-
quested they be discontinued because of the
interruption they sometimes caused to the
services. And then their tongues were 81
fenced. The other bells, with the exception
of the one which used to be located on. the
old Baptist church where the Builders
Exchange now stands, were put out of serv
ice because of the inability Of this DEPART
ment to strike them properly. "a
You know, these bells we're struck from
the same circuit, and where there are too
many on one circuit it IS out of the cues
ton to do the work No compensation was
ever paid for the privilege of striking the
alarms. We used. however, to strike the
noon and o'clock hours gratis at these
properly strike bells in all sections -of the
city it would be necessary to increase the
service by running more wires. We hope
with the present appropriation to be able
to do something in this line. Yes, 1t would
be possible to strike fire alarm bell from
the top of the new post office building with
out stringing more wires"
SLY OLD SLYMAN.