The Great Alarm Debate
Walla Walla’s City Council considers whether to invest in a modern fire alarm system or rely on an improvised network of city telephones.
The story, cleaned up
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Whether Walla Walla is to be provided with a fire alarm system in addition to a new steamer and a sub-station will probably come up for final disposition at tonight's council meeting. J. W. Chute, representing the A. J. Coffee company of San Francisco, has been in the city the past week trying to interest the council in a system. Councilman Smith expressed opposition to the high cost of a dedicated system, arguing that the city’s 1,100 telephones could be leveraged for emergency calls instead. Smith proposed that each district be assigned a number and that a printed card be placed by each phone to instruct residents on how to report a fire to the central operator, who could then alert the fire department. Smith estimated this would cost less than $1,000, compared to the $4,500 required for the proprietary alarm box system. He noted that with the city already planning to spend $6,500 on a new steamer and additional funds for a sub-station and the East Main street bridge, the treasury could not sustain further heavy expenditures.
“With the purchase of a new steamer at a cost of practically $6500... the city at present is spending considerable money and I for one do not feel like spending any more money just at present.”
Public safety infrastructure often pits fiscal conservatism against technological modernization. While Walla Walla moved on from manual phone-relay fire reporting long ago, the struggle to balance the 'heavy drain on the municipal treasury' with necessary public works remains a permanent fixture of city hall debates.
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