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by slug 836 days ago
Still being used, in Cambridge at least:

https://www.cambridgema.gov/cfd/News/2024/02/firealarmboxes....

2 comments

I was once recruited by a consulting firm that developed the control center for the SFFD, and visited the command center. They had computers listening to the pull box circuits and displaying box locations, but they kept the wind-up Morse inker to put dashes on a paper tape, and its bell, in case that failed. That was pre-cell phone, though.
The upside is not relying on telecommunications, but the downside is one trip and they don’t trip again until they are manually reset by a tech.
Presumably at least one fire truck shows up so they can reset it.
In some cities including Boston itself, it’s not the Fd that resets it but the fire alarm company of record(I work for one) who also gets a call. The possible issue is if another alarm comes in before the tech arrives it will not report to the FD again.