Evening star., 1948-12-07
City Heads Back
Friiede Plan on
School Fire Box
Remote Control Alarm
To Be Installed in
All New Buildings

The Commissioners today approved
of the remote control"
type of fire box inside school build
ings here despite opposition by Fire
Chief Clement Murphy.
BY this action the Commissioners
sided with Herbert A. Friede, Dis
trict superintendent of communica-
tions. Mr. Friede touched off the
dispute last month when he said he
would install cables for inside boxes
only at the proposed new Birney
Elementary School, to be erected at
Nichols avenue and Sumner road
Sc.
Chief Murphy disagreed, saying
this type was too expensive and not
the best means of protecting chill
dren's lives He recommended
standard fire alarm box be installed
outside the school.
Favored Alarm Bell.
Chief Murphy said the only thing
needed inside the school is an alarm
bell as an evacuation system. The
AAiOoS AAAA RSA IdiIG lAlA1lS 10 W SCG LllC
children outside, he said.
Once outside, the alarm could be-
pulled from the box located on the
school grounds or in the street, he
added.
Before making their decision to-
day, the Commissioners had asked
School Supt. Hobart NJ Corning to
St,1dv tho r,oo Tor opI ~, Lo n rooo,o
mendation. DR.. Corning last week
recommended to the Board of Edu-
cation that inside fire alarm boxes
similar to those advocated by Mr..
F'riede be installed.
He also recommended outside fire.
boxes.
The Board of Education did not
adopt Dr.. Cornings recommended
tions, but turned the matter over to
the Buildings and Grounds Commit
tee for further study.
Continuation of Long Feud.
Dr. Corning. admitting he was no
expert on what type of alarm was =
best, said he thought the stimuli
taneous vacating of the buildings
and notifying the Fire Department
should be provided.
The dispute between Mr.. Friede
and Chief Murphy is the continual
tion of long feud. The fire chief
won the last fight when he sue
ceeded in getting control of the fire
alarm system removed from Mr..
Friedes jurisdiction and placed un-
der the Fire Department.
Commissioner John Russell Young
voted against use of the remote
control" type of fire box, but was
overridden by the other two Com
missioners, Guy Mason and Brig.
Gen. Gordon r. Young.
Chief Murphy presented to the
Commissioners today, in support of
his contention, the results of ques-
tlonnaire he circulated among fire
chiefs of 80 of the largest cities in
the country.
Only two of the cities use the re
mote control" type <of box in the
schools. Only four of these cities
permit any kind of fire alarm box
installed inside the school buildings.
1947 Survey Cited.
Gen. Young told the other Com
missioners that the International
Fire Chiefs Association and the In
ternatonal Municipal Signal Asso-
citation both favored the type of
boxes recommended by Mr.. Friede.
He said survey by the IMSA in
1947 disclosed that 453 American
cities have one or more master
boxes in service in public institutions
and that an additional 154 have ex-
pressed approval and intend to in
stall them shortly.
The type of box recommended by
Mr.. Friede will be installed in all
new school buildings from now on.
The remote control type of fire
box works this way: A master box
is placed in the street in the main
fire alarm circuit and also is elec-
trically connected to an auxiliary
box. the remote CONTROL" inside the
building.
Previously, DR.. Corning reported
that 45 schools here have the re-
mote control box inside the build
ings. twenty-five buildings have a
street-type box inside, while all
other schools have street-type boxes
from one to three blocks from the