Much confusion surrounds the meaning of a ‘four-alarm fire.’ It is neither the number of alarms that have been sounded, nor the number of fire houses that respond, but rather a complex formula that varies by location and severity. John Willis Abernathy worked to clarify things: he was a small town alderman, a diligent volunteer firefighter, and an amateur engineer who was creative, excitable, and hopelessly inept.

In Abernathy’s time, most fires were reported using public call boxes, where a cranked knob would activate a spring-loaded wheel, causing a coded electrical signal to be sent by telegraph to the nearest firehouse. Firefighters would consult a codebook to identify the location of the alarm, and send further coded messages to one another to request help. From there began the work of dispatching units to the scene: not only engine companies and ladder companies, but squad companies, rescue companies, and specialized personnel responsible for safety, rescue, communications, command, planning, and support. Today in New York City, a four-alarm fire is answered by a total of 46 units, including sixteen engine companies, nine ladder companies, and six battalion chiefs.

With an eye on both quickening response time and eliminating error, Abernathy undertook to reimagine the receiver that could not merely sound the alarm, but instantly identify the location, and summon the needed resources. Information that had once been enshrined in a booklet and a painted sign became automated, in Abernathy’s vision, its clockwork of brass cogs converting codes into both street addresses and marching orders for volunteers. Abernathy’s rudimentary grasp of mechanics doomed the system to failure, as did its inflexibility toward change, though in this way, his pioneering work paved the way for the ‘smart home’ systems of the twenty-first century, which similarly never really seem to work, and are hardly as attractive.

Published February 11, 2023. Copyright © 2023 Jonathan Hoefler.