Bronx boxes - is there a pattern?
- Thread starter Air Recon
- Start date
Here's a list of all Bronx boxes and assignments (pre-BARB), from the Bronx Fire Radio website:firephish said:
http://www.firegroundphotos.net/bronxco/bronxboxes.xls
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https://mapsengine.google.com/map/viewer?authuser=0&hl=en&mid=ztmHDor1oHSI.kFLnkb1ITIic
I found this link which is a map of FDNY boxes. I have no idea how accurate this is, but at a glance I noticed Queens Box 8300 is missing as well as the airport crash boxes. From the map:
M=MANHATTN
B=BROOKLYN
X=BRONX
Q=QUEENS
R=STATEN ISLAND
You can search for a box by entering the borough prefix (above) and then the box number into the maps search box.
This is the link to an Excel Spreadsheet from http://www.firegroundphotos.net/bronxco with box numbers and locations. Again, I don't know how old or accurate these are.
http://www.firegroundphotos.net/bronxco/Fire_Boxes.csv
I found this link which is a map of FDNY boxes. I have no idea how accurate this is, but at a glance I noticed Queens Box 8300 is missing as well as the airport crash boxes. From the map:
M=MANHATTN
B=BROOKLYN
X=BRONX
Q=QUEENS
R=STATEN ISLAND
You can search for a box by entering the borough prefix (above) and then the box number into the maps search box.
This is the link to an Excel Spreadsheet from http://www.firegroundphotos.net/bronxco with box numbers and locations. Again, I don't know how old or accurate these are.
http://www.firegroundphotos.net/bronxco/Fire_Boxes.csv
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- Sep 24, 2011
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Looks like we have a holy grail...digitally anyway. A printable map of all the will either have to be a B.A.M. or if it's not a B.A.M. then all the labels will just be a big blob which is unusable. Even in this electronic version you have to zoom in to read the labels (FYI...B.A.M.= Big A$$ Map)
A map of them all I can access from my cell phone!
Oh!, when I think of all the hours spent on my Schwin bicycle pedaling the Bronx with a little notebook to see the neighborhoods and record their box numbers. Then going home (a 3d floor apartment) to ask the ol' man who responded to them.
I'd rather have the education of all that pedaling.
Oh!, when I think of all the hours spent on my Schwin bicycle pedaling the Bronx with a little notebook to see the neighborhoods and record their box numbers. Then going home (a 3d floor apartment) to ask the ol' man who responded to them.
I'd rather have the education of all that pedaling.
Atlas,
As I recall, there were few (or no) dummy boxes in the populated neighborhoods where I lived.
When my grandmother was buried in St Raymond's Cemetery, I took it upon myself to pedal to her gravesite. A long haul from Bedford Park, out Pelham Pkwy, White Plains rd, East Tremont Ave. My circuitous routes always included all the firehouses in the 20th Battalion (90/41, 61, 89/50).
There was an inconsistency to the box numbers out in what was then the hinterlands of the Bronx. Some even were missing. My dad explained that there were some numbers that did not exist as a physical alarm box on a street corner, but were a geographical reference point for the companies to respond to, as the Telegraph wires had not been strung to where the population was sparse.
That's what he told me about dummy boxes.
The big, tough, Irish SOB ain't been wrong yet.
As I recall, there were few (or no) dummy boxes in the populated neighborhoods where I lived.
When my grandmother was buried in St Raymond's Cemetery, I took it upon myself to pedal to her gravesite. A long haul from Bedford Park, out Pelham Pkwy, White Plains rd, East Tremont Ave. My circuitous routes always included all the firehouses in the 20th Battalion (90/41, 61, 89/50).
There was an inconsistency to the box numbers out in what was then the hinterlands of the Bronx. Some even were missing. My dad explained that there were some numbers that did not exist as a physical alarm box on a street corner, but were a geographical reference point for the companies to respond to, as the Telegraph wires had not been strung to where the population was sparse.
That's what he told me about dummy boxes.
The big, tough, Irish SOB ain't been wrong yet.
I guess every alarm box in the Bronx and Manhattan today is a dummy box. I believe Queens and Staten Island still have some functioning pull boxes. I don't know about Brooklyn (just where is that place?).
Anyway, that means there are hundreds (thousands?) of miles of old telegraph wires still buried beneath the streets of New York. All that taxpayer money and physical effort by men to put them there a century ago, now useless.
The old high pressure water mains in MN and BK have been converted to carry fibre optic cables. Must be some use for the telegraph wires.
This could be a useful (and hilarious) discussion.
Anyway, that means there are hundreds (thousands?) of miles of old telegraph wires still buried beneath the streets of New York. All that taxpayer money and physical effort by men to put them there a century ago, now useless.
The old high pressure water mains in MN and BK have been converted to carry fibre optic cables. Must be some use for the telegraph wires.
This could be a useful (and hilarious) discussion.
3511 - unless additional boxes have been removed, they were only taken out in Manhattan from 14 st to 59 st. The rest are only ERS & should be in service. If I am correct, a judge stopped the city from removing the boxes. Bronx & Brooklyn had boxes removed. Bronx went all ERS & still should have working boxes. Queens still might be a mix of boxes. I don't think Staten Is had any boxes removed. Hey 347 can you update us?
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Queens still has a mix of boxes.....some in the Ozone Park area had been removed years ago......a large portion of pull boxes primarily in North QNS remain Out Of Service since the 2 tornadoes of Sept 2010.....this should be considered a crime not to repair them........the boxes surrounding the homes of the former COD & the present FC are OOS ......just a matter of time until something serious happens.
With mechanical boxes it was not uncommon to have dozens of boxes on a single circuit. However, ERS boxes had a limit as to how many you could get on a loop, 32. When boxes were being changed from mechanical to ERS new loops had to be run for the simple reason that you needed more loops to handle the same amount of boxes.
Copper wires do not last forever in an underground environment. They're subject to the same problems as Con-Ed wires in manholes, salt water. However, it is possible that some of the copper in the street is original from the days of Valentine Fendrich, the person for whom the VF post is named.
Copper wires do not last forever in an underground environment. They're subject to the same problems as Con-Ed wires in manholes, salt water. However, it is possible that some of the copper in the street is original from the days of Valentine Fendrich, the person for whom the VF post is named.
FD347 said:
I am curious, any idea why some keep calling these posts "Victor Fine" you are the first person I've found who seems to know the facts about these VF posts, I kept seeing references to a "Victor fine" but I have not found one single source anywhere for even that name let alone having any connection to these posts.
i happened to find a 1920s film which in part details the central office and it's new and modern equipment, and the text says "Valentine Fendrich is the chief engineer" so it makes perfect sense the post design would be named after him.
