All Hands to the Pump

Mobile phones were still the stuff of science fiction but the fire brigade was just a push knob away thanks to street fire alarm systems. During the 1920s and 1930s Duplex alarm systems were installed in New Zealand's provincial centres. These alarms allowed the public to break the glass, push the knob and raise the alarm when a fire was spotted. The alarms were mounted on power poles throughout suburbia and once activated they sent a unique signal to a ticker tape machine at the station. The town alarm would then be sounded and firemen would scramble to the station.

New Plymouth's street fire alarms were dismantled in the late 1950s as domestic telephone ownership increased but they were used as late as the 1970s in other areas. This alarm was used in New Plymouth and also served as a garden ornament for many years after it was decommissioned.