Station Bells

[jaywalk23]

Does anyone know the protocol for the bells that you hear in the station, after the initial Engine, Ladder, Battalion voice notification? I believe they are manually rung, by the house watch. I'm interested in what type of bell it is, and if anyone has a picture of this bell. I originally thought that one ring of the bell means, Engine, two taps Ladder, and three taps, clear the house.

 

[In2theJob]

For a house with an Engine , Ladder and chief:
1 Bell is usually a phone call for the Engine Officer
2 Bells is a phone call for the Ladder Officer
3 Bells (when there is a chief in qtrs) is a phone call for the Batt Aide.
4 Bells is a run for the chief
5 Bells is a run for the engine
7 bells is a run for the chief

If every one is going together then the bells are just hit rapidly for a few seconds.  Some houses might have little variations to some of the bells depending who is in qtrs
After the bells are hit then the run type and location get announced over the bitch box.

Not sure what type of bell it is, but they are wired throughout the house.

 

[lucky]

The older fire houses have a button on the side of the black box that has the small and large gongs on the face.
The large bell was the primary and an alarm rang on it the first time it was received. The alarm would come over a second time on the smaller bell. The button was to notify members of a verbal alarm that had been reported by a civilian at the watch desk. There was no acknowledgement and the dispatcher assumed that all units were responding. The housewatchmen did have to acknowledge special calls by tapping in the unit number preceded by the designation if it wasn't an engine company. The special calls were only sent out once on the primary bells.

 

[jaywalk23]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jbVLy65MWkg

 

[In2theJob]

sounds like he was starting to hit the bells for the engine going and then got distracted when the battalion was announced and hit 4 bells after that for the batt to respond.

 

[JohnnyGage]

Interesting thread, hope you don't mind a little rejuvenation...most houses with a chief  have an alert system as described in the first reply. When I worked in 88/38 we did not use the bells, we just used the house intercom. Same thing when I was in L5 during the 90's. (I see in the video above they are using bells, times change!). There were some variations at other firehouses, and when you were detailed to a house you inquired how their bell alert system was. Or you might find yourself running to the truck everytime the truck boss would get a phone call!...a few times I was detailed to L 111 they had a unique bell alert. If I recall it went smething like this:
1 bell- engine officer
2 bells- truck boss
here was the change:
3 bells quickly, pause, 1 bell: engine only
3 bells quickly, pause, 2 bells; truck only
3 bells quickly, followed by another three bells meant everybody goes.

Detailed to E 45 / L 58 back years ago, same as the first reply;
5 bells meant engine only
7 bells meant truck only
rapid tapping out the bell meant everybody goes.

Some houses without a chief had something altogether different, for instance HW would tap out 5 bells, pause then 2 more; for everybody goes.

I am sure there are other variations.

Prior to being hired by FDNY I was a firefighter in DCFD, assigned to a single engine house. We had a 14" brass gong that was mounted in the bunkroom. On the corner of the HW desk was the button to activate the gong...When we got a run, the HW firefighter would tap out the gong, some guys hit it once or twice, some guys hit the gong button in rapid fashion. Also, the gong button was in a precarious place on the front corner of the HW desk and you had to be careful to not accidently hit it. On occasion a member would have the early morning watch, begin to nod off, start to lean over in the chair, catch himself and smack the gong button by accident.

 

[memory master]

Once upon a time it was called "the still button."

 

[DAN S.]

6 Bells Chows on ....

 

[FDNY fire buff23]

Interesting thread, hope you don't mind a little rejuvenation...most houses with a chief have an alert system as described in the first reply. When I worked in 88/38 we did not use the bells, we just used the house intercom. Same thing when I was in L5 during the 90's. (I see in the video above they are using bells, times change!). There were some variations at other firehouses, and when you were detailed to a house you inquired how their bell alert system was. Or you might find yourself running to the truck everytime the truck boss would get a phone call!...a few times I was detailed to L 111 they had a unique bell alert. If I recall it went smething like this:
1 bell- engine officer
2 bells- truck boss
here was the change:
3 bells quickly, pause, 1 bell: engine only
3 bells quickly, pause, 2 bells; truck only
3 bells quickly, followed by another three bells meant everybody goes.

Detailed to E 45 / L 58 back years ago, same as the first reply;
5 bells meant engine only
7 bells meant truck only
rapid tapping out the bell meant everybody goes.

Some houses without a chief had something altogether different, for instance HW would tap out 5 bells, pause then 2 more; for everybody goes.

I am sure there are other variations.

Prior to being hired by FDNY I was a firefighter in DCFD, assigned to a single engine house. We had a 14" brass gong that was mounted in the bunkroom. On the corner of the HW desk was the button to activate the gong...When we got a run, the HW firefighter would tap out the gong, some guys hit it once or twice, some guys hit the gong button in rapid fashion. Also, the gong button was in a precarious place on the front corner of the HW desk and you had to be careful to not accidently hit it. On occasion a member would have the early morning watch, begin to nod off, start to lean over in the chair, catch himself and smack the gong button by accident.

Thanks for the reply. I'm curious, are those silver bells AC or DC? I also hear a bell sounding when the bay door opens or closes. I'd be interested in hooking something like that up at our firehouse. Any idea how it works?

 

[JohnnyGage]

Thanks for the reply. I'm curious, are those silver bells AC or DC? I also hear a bell sounding when the bay door opens or closes. I'd be interested in hooking something like that up at our firehouse. Any idea how it works?

Firehouse door opening/closing bells are different from the turnout bells we used. To hook bells up to your firehouse door is easy, any electrician can help you with that.

 

[captaindewey50267021@gm]

When I started in the FDNY in the early 1970s the "bells" were still in use. I remember sitting in the Housewatch at Engine 73, Squad 2 & Ladder 42, in the South Bronx when my unit, Engine 27 at that time, was relocated to E-73 from our usual firehouse in SOHO in lower Manhattan. The Bronx was really hopping that night, and it took two of us sitting in the housewatch to count all the Alarm bells coming in. When any Brough was very busy the dispatchers would transmit the Bell alarms on what they would called, an "Open Circuit" so you would hear every Box transmitted on the bells of every firehouse in the Borough. A miracle happened that night. At a dispatcher's 3rd alarm on Jennings Street not far from E-73 firehouse, a major collapse took place trapping 7 firemen in the rubble. "The Miracle" all 7 firemen were safely removed from the major collapse.
SOME PHOTOS BELOW: Captain Bob Rainey FDNY Engine 26 retired.