Fire Call Box 1-87 HO Scale

Fire Call Box 1-87 HO Scale

This fire call box set is modeled after FDNY fire boxes found through out New York. There is no assembly required. Painting is highly recommended.

A fire alarm box, fire alarm call box or fire alarm pull box is a device used for notifying a fire department of a fire. Typically installed on street corners, they were the main means of summoning firefighters before the general availability of telephones.

When the box is activated by turning a knob or pulling a hook, a spring-loaded wheel turns, tapping out a pulsed electrical signal corresponding to the box's number. A receiver at fire headquarters annunciates the pulses through flashing lights or tones, or via a pen recorder, and the box number is matched to a list of box locations. In modern installations a computer receives and translates the pulses; in unmanned installations in small communities, the box number may be sounded out by a horn or bell audible community-wide. Though still in wide use, many communities have removed them, relying instead of the widespread availability of landline and (especially) cellular telephones.