A snapshot of fire service communications 50 years ago would find both pre — and post — World War II technologies in use. The typical large city fire department used a telegraph system as its primary notification to multiple fire stations. The system consisted of fire alarm boxes on nearly every street corner, each assigned a unique number. When a citizen pulled the alarm, it opened a telegraph circuit at the central dispatch center and tapped out that unique number over both the bells and a punch tape register. The fire alarm operators then looked up the assignments on the corresponding fire alarm box run card and transmitted the alarm over the firehouse circuits.

Public telephones on street corners and in businesses augmented the neighborhood boxes. Fire alarm operators were trained to know the closest fire alarm box based on the address or street name given by the caller. The operator then telegraphed the alarm to the fire stations. The use of teletype, an early printer system in the fire stations, and the supplemental use of radio to broadcast the alarm gave fire companies more information than the bell circuits alone.

Prior to World War II, radio had been the nearly exclusive purview of police agencies. After the war, both the police and fire service quickly adapted radio technologies to their individual public safety roles. Post-war communications breakthroughs such as use of static-free FM and designated LF and VHF radio spectrums enhanced the use of mobile radios over longer distances. Most 1950s radio systems consisted of a single channel that served as both the backup to the dispatch alarm circuits and as a means of communicating directly with the chief at the scene. The use of separate fireground or tactical frequencies was virtually nonexistent.

Two separate radio units weighing upwards of 40 pounds, one a transmitter and the other a receiver, were installed in the chief's command car or station's fire apparatus. Portable radios, other than extremely bulky military-style “walkie-talkies,” were a decade or more away from introduction into the fire service.

Companies like RCA, Motorola and Philco began competing for the new public safety market. This competition, along with research and development for both the military and NASA, would soon radically change communications.

Suburban and rural fire departments adapted more slowly. Fifty years ago, volunteer departments relied totally or in part on the “house siren” affixed atop the station. A resident dialed a local telephone number and reached one or more operators, usually a family member in the home of one of the firefighters. The phone operator then activated the house siren and sent someone to the station to mark the fire's address on a chalkboard near the bay doors.

By the early 1950s, some larger counties across the country began staffing centralized communications centers responsible for answering telephones for several volunteer fire departments and for remotely activating the house sirens by radio tones. The Plectron, a tone-activated home monitoring radio and the granddaddy of today's personal pagers, was considered high-tech. Still, early models required AC power and several feet of bell wire for an antenna. Signal strength at the receiver depended at times on finding the best window or high spot to hang the wire antenna. The Plectron's big advantage was that it could give a responding volunteer firefighter not only the address, but also the nature of the emergency, via spoken word.

In the 1970s, most major cities scrapped their fire alarm box systems due to the high cost of maintenance, the widespread installation of telephones in homes and businesses, and the increasing number of false alarms from street boxes. Centralized communications centers, usually serving an area's fire, EMS and police needs, became more prevalent, especially with the advent of the universal 911 emergency number. These communications centers now served the full range of fire departments: volunteer, combination and career. Tone-activated station radios became the alerting system for as many city fire stations as they initially had for suburban and rural departments.

Communications made several quantum advances in succeeding decades. The mass production of transistors and the development of semiconductors, printed circuits and computer chips not only miniaturized the devices, but also made communications available for wider, even individual use. Without this technological evolution, Alan Brunacini probably would not have been able to develop his concept of Fire Ground Command in the late '70s and early '80s that became the Incident Command System of the '90s and today's National Incident Management System.

The 21st century marks a new era in fire service communications; wireless technologies, digital data transmission, secure intranet systems and interoperable systems are enabling new information-handling and communications systems designed expressly for the fire service. What lies ahead? Some departments are beginning to beta-test portable radios that not only track accountability, but also use GPS to locate firefighters within structures. While such technology must reside within a sound ICS and accountability system, it will certainly also enhance the ability to bring rapid-intervention resources more quickly to the aid of firefighters. As such, this new communications technology and others to follow should lend itself to the fire service's life-safety initiative, “Everyone Goes Home.”