The fire alarm system is a Gamewell System, a system which is still in use today (2020s) around the country, including the Town of Depew in Western New York.  The Gamewell System was used in the City of Tonawanda, beginning in the late 1910s or 1920s, when the original cables were hung throughout the city by the City Electrician and the Assistant Fire Chief.

Alarm Operation (Receiving Alarm)

The system rang bells at (1) Fire Headquarters – National Hose; (2) Union  Hook and Ladder; (3) Engine 2 – Delaware Hose; (4) Engine 3 – Niagara Hose; (5) the Tonawanda Water Works; and (6) in later years, the Police Station.

Alarm boxes were placed at strategic locations throughout the city.  Each box had a brass disc with cogs on the edge which denoted its location in numerical form.

Fire Headquarters had a master system which contained duplicate brass discs for the entire city system.

Alarm Operation (Sending Alarm)

An alarm was sounded in the city by finding an alarm box, opening the box, and pulling down the lever which activated a telegraph system (using the brass disc with cogs which denoted the box number).  This would turn on a machine (“joker tape”) which would punch holes in a tape indicating numerical location of the alarm box.  Gongs sounded simultaneously with the numerical pattern of the disk. 

For fire alarms, four cycles of tape and gongs allowed firemen to read the tape, count the gongs, and locate the intersection of the alarm box on the official “alarm card”.  Firemen were supposed to read the tape, even after hearing the gong, prior to leaving the fire hall for the fire site.

Also, the “joker tape” and gong were activated at the Water Works simultaneously.  At that time, the water department personnel blew a loud steam horn in the same number pattern to alert volunteer firemen throughout the city.  In later years, the water department changed to a compressor-type air horn.  There were additional siren-type horns located at Ives Pond, Millstream Pond, and at Niagara Hose on Wheeler Street.

If a fire was phoned into Fire Headquarters, the dispatcher would verify address, check the running card with address, and choose the corresponding brass disc to activate the system (this worked in the same manner as stated above when an alarm box was pulled to alert the respective fire companies and the water works).  In this way, the other fire companies and the water works were alerted to the fire.

Other Information

Alarm boxes had telegraph keys, which the fire chief could use to signal different needs/functions for the Fire Department.

Alarm boxes, joker tapes, and gongs were to be rewound after every alarm and/or every Friday. 

North Tonawanda had a similar system in place.

Paid firemen and volunteer captains had small gongs installed in their homes.