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Fire Alarm System
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Old dispatcher's office, Station No. 2.
1974 - Chief Dispatcher Reynolds at Station No. 2.
1978 - Emergency Dispatch Center - Fire Department console and map.
P.B.X. Board - Old Dispatcher Office.
Main switchboard at the ODO room (Old Dispatch Office) - Station 2.
Gamewell Control Board
Second Gamewell Control Board
Battery Room located on the mez. of Station 2, Lewis and Topeka.
| In 1886 when Chief Walden was starting the Wichita Fire Department, he requested, "The City to purchase gongs, wire, and battery sufficient to give electrical communication between the central and substations." Combining this later with telephones, these materials were to make up the alarm system for the next thirty-eight years.
In 1921 plans were formed to build a new alarm system. Pressure on City Commissioners spurred this action when the threat of increased insurance rates was promised if improvement was not made.
Finally, on April 28, 1923, a contract was let to the Gamewell Appliance Company and work began in July of that year. It was planned for 82 alarm boxes to be installed, with the battery house located behind the old library. (The battery house was required to be separate from the remainder of the system.) The PBX board or dispatch board would be placed in Central Station. The system went into service February 10, 1924, much as it was planned. In October of 1927 a dispatch booth was built in the Central Station and the PBX board placed there. Charles Duffner was operator of the Gamewell system and E.J. Moore was switchboard operator.
In 1929 an alarm was dispatched by (1) dialing 2-8401 (John Willis, fire operator) or tripping an alarm box; (2) the intersection nearest the fire was looked up in a file numbered from 100 to 9,400; (3) the dial on the board is set and the alarm tripped (units were rolling within two minutes), and (4) the alarm was confirmed by plugging in an "all stations" on the PBX board.
On March 5, 1931, the PBX board at the Central Station was shut down and temporarily located at #1 Station. Approximately four years later, 1935, the entire alarm system was moved from the control house behind the library to #2 Station at Lewis and Topeka. Francis Collins was the department electrician and maintained the system after its move.
In 1943 the Fire Department switchboard was moved from #1 Station to #2 Station, combining both systems at one location. A.L. Terry was superintendent of fire alarms during this period. For many years this arrangement would stand until a new communication supervisor, G.L. Van Cleave, placed the battery room on the second floor of Station #2. By 1953 alarms were being given by a public address system to all stations, and the Gamewell system was the backup.
March 3, 1963, brought more improvements with the installation of controls for fifteen fire lanes. These were to allow department units to move quickly through the downtown area. Previously, the fire lane controls tied up all downtown, turning all signals red.
Finally, after forty-five years in service the old dispatching system was replaced. On February 1, 1967, a new Bell telephone system went into service. Even the old Gamewell reporting boxes were replaced. Another change came with the new equipment, all women dispatchers supervised by F.E. Reynolds. The women adjusted well to their new positions, but it was said that when "skip" (radio signals from other fire departments) was received, they always knew when it was Wichita - we were the only department with women dispatchers.
The next major change in alarm systems came in the early months of 1978. The dispatchers for all emergency units within Wichita and Sedgwick County were combined and referred to as "The Emergency Dispatch Center" or EDC. This was the death blow to the dispatching system used for so many years, and the familiarity between the dispatchers and men in the field. For the first time in its history, the Fire Department was to give control of its dispatch system to an outside organization. So goes progress; change is hard but usually found to bring improvement.
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