By MES Dispatch staff
The Briefing
• The Manchester Fire Department has retired its 154-year-old municipal fire alarm box system after the final transmission from the city’s last active Gamewell master box, officials said.
• The final signal was transmitted May 1 from Box 4647 outside Manchester Collision Center in Manchester, New Hampshire.
• The telegraph-based system had been in service since 1872 and once included dozens of street alarm boxes connected by copper wire.
• Fire officials said advances in radio-based technology and aging infrastructure prompted the transition away from the legacy system.
• Department leaders called the retirement the end of a historic chapter in the city’s public safety communications network.
MANCHESTER, NH — The Manchester Fire Department has officially retired its historic municipal fire alarm box system, ending more than 150 years of telegraph-based emergency communications service in the city, officials announced.
City of Manchester, N.H. Fire Department/Facebook
The department transmitted the final alarm from Gamewell master Box 4647 on May 1 outside Manchester Collision Center on John E. Devine Drive. Fire communications personnel marked the final transmission with the phrase “Fire box 4647, final rounds,” formally ending the system’s operational service.
Manchester first installed the Gamewell Fire Alarm Telegraph system in 1872, creating a network of street alarm boxes, signal bells and copper-wire communications that allowed residents to report fires directly to dispatchers and fire stations. Officials said the system became a longstanding part of the city’s emergency response infrastructure.
Department technicians said maintaining the aging hard-wired network had become increasingly difficult because damage to a single section of wiring could disable multiple alarm boxes simultaneously. Officials also noted that legitimate emergency calls from street alarm boxes had become rare in recent decades as modern communications systems expanded.
Manchester has transitioned to a radio-based fire alarm system designed to improve reliability and reduce infrastructure vulnerabilities. Fire Chief Ryan Cashin and department leaders thanked generations of firefighters, dispatchers and communications personnel who maintained the system throughout its 154 years of service.