The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-11-25
Department Has Trouble
Locating g Fire.
CHIEF GIVES GOOD ADVICE
Tells How to Eliminate
Danger of Mistakes.
In Telephoning an Alarm IL Is Far
Best to Give the Nearest Street
Corner And Thus Prevent Misun-
derstanding That Might Send De-
partnent to Opposite End of City.

A mistake made in the trans
mission of a telephone alarm, caus-
ed the Central Fire department to
make q run to Reed avenue shortly
after eleven o'clock yesterday morn
ing when the fire was on Toledo
avenue i'm the other end of the city.
The mistake was made either by
the party who telephoned in the
alarm, or by the operator at the ex-
change who took it, or the man at
the fire department who received the
alarm there. Fortunately, the fire,
which was at the home of ]. Robin
son, on Toledo avenue, was very
small affair. A spark set fire to a
shingled roof but was quickly ex-
tinguished. The Central Department
ran to Reed avenue and finding every
thing serene there, Chief Mcfarland
,made telephone inquiry until he To-
cate dthe fire on Toledo avenue, both
the Central and the West End de-
partments making the run. The
flames had been put out when they
arrived.
In discussing the mistake Bdday
Chief Mcfarland said; ut is very
phone alarms and the greatest care
should be exercised. We want the
public to telephone an alarm to
central and she will transmit 1t
to the department She is In
a position to know where the clarm
is being telephoned from and If the
party rings off she can get him again.
With us It is different. When an
alarm comes in on the telephone
there Is much noise at the depart
ment. The men rush to their places,
ready to liberate the horses and the
animals knowing that they are go
ing to make a run are impatient and
make a great deal of noise. Then
the one who telephones an alarm
is usually so excited that he can
hardly talk. Women are worse than
men and sometimes children call in
and we are unable to get any infor-
nation whatever from them as rule.
About the time we try to get them
to tell us where they live they merely
yell. there's a fire at our house. It's
burning up. Hurry hurry" and then
there Is burr-r-r-r on the wire and
they are gone without telling us
where the fire Is.
"In giving telephone alarms II every
one would give street corners i'm
stead of one street and the num-
ber of the house, II would be far
better and there would be no mis-
take. For instance, let the one tele-
phoning an alarm tell the nearest |
street corner. SO many OF the street |
names sound so nearly alike that
where but one is given there is big |
chance for q mistake and that mis- |
take might mean. the destruction of
a building or house that otherwise
might be saved. Where street inter-
sections are given mistake would
be discovered at once and the de-
partment would not leave until the
was rectified, and the fire
located. This would prevent wild |
goose chase to one end of the city
when a house in another end was
burning up"
The chief says that 1t Is better to
turn In an alarm from one of the |
boxes when there Is one handy. There |
is little possibility of a mistake then. |
But many persons do not know how
to ring in an alarm from one of the |
boxes. The glass must be broken, |
the knob turned to open the door and |
the inside must be pulled down. This |
Is the proper procedure to ring in
an alarm. Many persons have failed |
to call the department because they
thought that breaking the glass and
turning the knob that opened the
door was sufficient.
Manager Arthur Berry OF the tele-
phone company today conferred with
Chief Mcfarland and MIR. Berry pro-
missed in the future to have the op-
orator. receiving a fire alarm. to com
municate 1t promptly to both the
Central and West End Departments.
Other arrangements to lessen the dan-
ger of mistake will be made.