The English alarm system does not appear to be so perfect as ours, but
otherwise the same engines are used, and the department is finely
organized. The arrangement of the city is all that prevents them from
doing the quick and effective work that we can accomplish.
When a fire breaks out here, it is the duty of the person discovering it
to run to the nearest fire-alarm box, and, opening the box, pull down
the hook he will see inside. This causes a signal-number to appear on
the key-board in front of the operator at headquarters.
The number tells him the district in which the fire has occurred, and
with one touch of a telegraphic key he sends out an alarm to the
thirty-odd engine-houses in the neighborhood of the fire.
The pressure on the key at headquarters releases the horses in the
stalls of the various engine-houses. Instantly these clever beasts dash
out of their boxes and place themselves at the shafts, the collar clasps
around their necks and harnesses them to the engine; the men slide down
the poles to their places, the gates swing open, and the engine is out
and dashing along the road in less time than it takes to tell about it.
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