The Revitalist

A Boston fire alarm box. (Photo: Mike Legeros on Flickr)
There are photos from around the world on Flickr that are tagged firealarmbox.

Someone must have put a bug in the Globe's ear about this one. A recent article looks at the 1,259 street fire boxes in the city of Boston. The familiar red boxes with a pull lever transmit a signal (including the box location) via telegraph to the Boston Fire Department almost instantaneously. Boston and several neighboring cities, including Cambridge and Brookline, have been maintaining their boxes in the face of recurring criticism that they should be scrapped now that we are in the digital age. The Fire Department points out that the boxes work when the power is out and the cell circuits are busy and for those who don't speak English or know where they are. Critics point out that it cost the city $1.8M last year to maintain the boxes (employees and parts), and that they are a large source of false alarms. For me, they add a bit of charm to the streetscape and add a sense of security to being out on the street.

 By the way, if you're interested in this kind of thing, the article mentions that Boston was the site of the first municipal fire alarm system. There is a bronze plaque at Old City Hall acknowledging the location of the system that was installed by IEEE in 2004.