Salisbury Fire Department
Fire Box Alarm Signals
In 1912, a public fire alarm box system was installed, with 20 fire alarm boxes installed on street corners. There were box alarm bells in several of the Chief Officer's homes, that would go off every time a box alarm was pulled or activated. At one point in time, there was an air horn on the main Fire Station, that would send out the main box alarm code, so off duty fire personnel and volunteers could respond to the call. The horn could be heard all over the City of Salisbury. This was the best system available before radios and pagers. If a company needed more apparatus, they would have to pull another box to receive the equipment that was needed. There were even codes for: Firefighters (3-3-3), Minute Men Mobilization (4-4-4), and for a disaster call Red Cross (6-6-6).
In 1987, the way fires and emergencies were reported was changed forever. The County put the 9-1-1 system in service, and moved the dispatchers to a new communications center. The last of the fire alarm boxes was removed from service; This was the end of a 75 year old system that worked well, but was no longer needed.
