One room of the Canberra Fire Museum has displays of the ways that fires were reported and brigades called out in the early days. The bottom photos show 2 eras of such gear. The first is a large array of lights and switches that showed what call box the fire was reported from and enabled the controller to notify the nearest brigade/s. The second one is from 15 or so years later, when early computers were starting to be used. The control desk is much smaller. For me, the earliest example was the most interesting - the old Fire Bell which was used in the earliest stations. No phones or radio then. Firemen who were on station or in earshot would "ring the bell and run like the clappers", as our guide put it.
Labels: Canberra, fire engine
# posted by Bart Bear @ 10:46 am
