Rigged alarm system Some Detroit fire stations have been forced to devise their own fire alarm systems. Here's an example of the system at the station that houses Engine 10. 1. Computer recieves fire message from 911 and prints message. 2. Computer paper feeds into printer, knocking weight off shelf. 3. Weight, linked by a chain to light switch, triggers alarm, alerting firefighters of call. Source: Detroit News research Tim Summers / The Detroit News

Alarm systems

Firefighters must jerry-rig systems to hear alarms

Firehouses get calls via printer

By Charles Hurt and Melvin Claxton / The Detroit News

    When Detroit dispatchers alert firehouses of emergency calls, they ring no bells and flash no lights.
    Instead, the sound that springs firefighters into action is the soft clicking of a dot matrix printer.
    The Detroit Fire Department sends computer messages through these printers notifying firehouses of runs.
    The department has relied on the printers as its primary method of alerting stations to fires since the early 1980s, when fire officials dismantled a citywide alarm system.
    The plan back then was to adopt an updated system to replace the old one, which set off bells and flashed lights.
    But the department never installed a new central dispatch alarm.
    Fire Commissioner Charles Wilson said his department has no plans to install alarm systems in firehouses. He said the current computer printouts and radios work well enough.
    That’s forced fire crews across the city to jerry-rig their alarm systems.
    Hooked to the printers, the contraptions rely on metal pipes, notebook wire and baby monitors to keep firefighters from missing a run.
    Most stations place a metal pipe on the paper that feeds into the printer. As the paper moves when a run notice comes across, the pipe rolls off and hits the floor making a loud ping.
    Those who rely on the sound of the tumbling pipe have learned that it’s not always loud enough. Some firefighters bought baby monitors and installed them around the stations so they can hear the falling pipe anywhere.
    Firefighters at other firehouses have gone further, attaching the pipes by wires to switches that trigger alarms.
    At the east side station that houses Ladder 16, firefighters rigged up their alarm using a food processor’s motor and duct tape.
    Perhaps the most ingenious of the alarm systems was at the quarters for Engine 5, at West Alexandrine and Cass. This year, the firehouse got a new kitchen, windows and floor tiles, along with other renovations.
    But no alarm system was installed — and the dot matrix printer that served as the heart of the station’s alert system was removed.
    Instead, the department equipped the firehouse with a laser printer. Not only was the laser printer quiet, it also eliminated a place for firefighters to put the pipe.
    To compensate, the fire crew bought a motion detector and installed it above the printer. Paper coming out of the printer triggered the motion detector’s alarm.
    But the motion detector was stolen over the summer. Now a firefighter must sit in the small station office at all times to listen for the quiet hum of the laser printer.

The Detroit News Firefighters have come up with ways to be alerted to calls since the city removed alarms. Most hook items, such as the food processor at left, or put a metal bar that will hit the floor when an alarm comes via computer printer.

Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News A firehouse crew connected a monitor, like those found in a baby’s rooms, that will alert firefighters when the printer starts working. It’s the only way they know a call is coming in from central dispatch.

Contact the reporters at churt@detnews.com and mclaxton@detnews.com.