REAL  ESTATE









NEW  YORK,  NOVEMBER  27, 1915





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PLANS   FOR  NEW FIRE  ALARM   TELEGRAPH





I                      Will Cost $1,000,000, But Will   Return It   to   Taxpayers   in   Re-                      |

I                      duce(J Insurance Premiums—Plans Satistactory to Advisory Council                      |

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APPROXIM.\TELY $1,000,000 has
been appropriated by the city for a
new fire alarm telegraph system for the
Fire Department. The plan contem¬
plates an entirely new system by the
utilization of such parts of recent con¬
struction as are adapted to the new sys¬
tem and by the construction of the re¬
mainder.

Several years ago a plan, knovvn as the
Carty-Miller Plan, was prepared by the
city at an expense of $25,000, and the
principles of this plan, with certain modi¬
fications, are incorporated into the pres¬
ent specifications. The Borough of Man¬
hattan will thus, in particular, have an
entirely new fire alarm telegraph system,
modern in every respect, including ca¬
bles, fire alarm boxes and a new central
fireproof station in Central Park.

.-\s planned, only ten street boxes
would be attached to a single circuit,
while each fire house will be connected
with the central office by circuits wholly
independent of the alarm bo.x circuits,
with a maximum of four companies be¬
ing connected to any one circuit. The
fire alarms will be sent to the new cen¬
tral headquarters from the street boxes
and will then be transmitted to the fire
house over the central ofiice circuits.

By means of independent lines the
chief of the department, his under-chiefs
and all fire boats, stations and the insur¬
ance patrol will receive all alarms of
fires at all hours; and connections -vyill
be made with a high-pressure pumping
station, the Edison Company's Water
Side Power Station, which furnishes the
current for pressure pumping, and police
headquarters.

Cables Over Bridges.

Direct connections with fire headquar¬
ters in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens,
Blackwells, Randalls and Wards Islands
will be made by cables over tlie various
bridges, thus making it possible to aban¬
don the under-river cables that are used
today. Public schools, hospitals and
other similar buildings are also to be con¬
nected with the street box system, each
such building having assigned to it one
box.

The fact that the new central station
is to be located in Central Park will be
an unquestioned advantage;, but certain
changes are being made, so that there
will be no danger of having the station
flooded by water, from either the central
water mains or from heavy rain storms.
In this manner these hazards from water
which in the not improbable event of a
breakdown would throw the entire fire
alarm system out of service, are com¬
pletely eliminated. Property owners are
said to be fortunate that in the past
ten years, with the present antiquated
and worn-out system, they have not ex¬
perienced serious consequences from a
breakdown in the operation of this sys¬
tem. Nothing but good fortune has pro¬
tected the city from serious conse¬
quences.

^ox Locations.

The box locations under this new sys¬
tem have been, chosen as a result of the
combined  judg'ltent  of the  chief of  the

■".•'it »rit 1'







FIRE   COMMISSIONER   ADAMSOX.

department, his deputy chiefs and in con¬
sultation with the fire risk expert of
the New York Board of Fire Under¬
writers. The Empire City Subway Com¬
pany is required, under the terms of its
agreement with the city, to furnish all
of the subway space needed by the city
for its fire department cables.

The greater part of the cables will be
accommodated by e.xisting subways, but
the plans call for the construction of
fifty-seven miles of new subway by the
Empire City Subway Company. The
New York Fire Insurance Exchange has
already made a formal offer to substan¬
tially reduce fire insurance rates, provid¬
ed the new system is constructed alon.g
the lines prepared by the Fire Commis¬
sioner.

.\ formal resolution which has been
passed by the exchange states that upon
the installation of this new fire alarm
telegraph system, in accordance with the
plans and specifications, a reduction of
1 per cent, will be made in the rates of
the exchange existing at the time such
installation is completed, as aforesaid.
while it is further understood that the
reduction will be applied in reasonably
large sections of the city as such ap¬
proved installation is therein completed.

Thus, the reduction in insurance rates
will more than equal the interest charges
on the cost of construction of the new
system. With the low price of copper
and rubber, the Fire Commissioner feels
that the saving will be great.
Plans Satisfactory to Advisory Council.

The .\dvisory Council of Real Estate
Interests not only approved of the plans
and specifications of the new system, but
has urged the immediate prosecution of
the work.

"The reduction of fire insurance
rates is of vital significance to prop¬
erty owners, however moderate they may
be," said a member of the executive com¬
mittee yesterday. "Efforts have been
made in Queens by civic associations,
particularly  the   Chamber  of Commerce





of the Borough of Queens, to have the
rates reduced in that borough, by the
installation of proper fire prevention ap¬
paratus; and a modern fire alarm sys¬
tem.

"Taxpayers' organizations and civic
bodies in other boroughs should likewise
devote   some   effort   along   similar   lines.

"(Jne iinportant phase of the plans and
specifications is that it has been neces¬
sary to provide for the continuation of
tlie old system while the new system is
lieing constructed.

Difficulties of Construction.

^ "This may increase the dilhcultics of
tile construction, but it nevertheless is
one of the elements that must be con-
.sidered because in proceeding with the
installation it is proposed that the cen¬
tral office equipment sliall be put into op¬
eration simultaneously with the construc¬
tion of the entire cable plant. With re¬
gard to the old system, much of the so-
called subway has outlived its usefulness,
for the pipe ducts in particular were in¬
stalled in 1894-1897 and only a very sinall
number are of recent construction.

"That its continued use without pro¬
vision for permanent improvement is,
however, a hazard little appreciated, the
following record of operation and main¬
tenance of the greatly deteriorated plant
now in service is shown to demonstrate
this fact: In 1910 every circuit vvas at
some time grounded sufliciently to neces¬
sitate repairs.

"This is also true of the year 1914.
In 1910, 96 per cent, of all the circuits
went open at some period and in 1914, 87
per cent, of all the circuits went open.
In 1910, of the total of 1,051 boxes in
service, 1,039 were affected by open cir¬
cuits. In 1914, of 1,068 boxes, 931 were
affected by open circuit. In 1910 the
total number of alarm box stations tem¬
porarily thrown out of service was 5,645,
and in 1915 the number was 4,688. In
1910 the total number of occasions when
apparatus alarm stations were out of ser¬
vice due to open circuits was 1,017. In
1914 this number was 708. In 1910 the
number of instances where alarms trans¬
mitted from the central office to the ap¬
paratus failed so badly as to require
emergency repair was 1,400. In 1914 the
number was 507.

New System Necessary.

"Thus, it is evident that the new fire
alarm system, as outlined by the Fire
Commissioner, is necessary. The approv¬
al of tlie specifications by the .Advisory
Council would certify that the new con¬
struction will be most beneficial to real
estate. There is no doubt that property
owners are entitled to lower insurance
rates, by complying with the require¬
ments issued liy the Fire Department, as
was outlined in the Record and Guide of
Oct. 23, when Chief Hammitt was quot¬
ed by the .Advisory Council in certain
suggestions whereby property owners
might obtain these reductions. In this
connection, therefore, the installation of
a fire alarm system is most opportune,
for it doubly assures real estate owners
that at least some benefit will come to
them from the eflicient methods that arc
being adopted by the Fire Department."