There are 2,200 Boston Fire call boxes located throughout the City. Theses little red boxes let people notify the fire department of a fire in the area; pull down the white hook, and a signal will be telegraphed to the BFD.

Boston’s fire call box telegraph system was the first of its kind in the world, when it was fully implemented in 1852. But,once were innovative public safety resources, have increasingly lost value in the digital age; if there’s a fire somewhere in Boston, Twitter will start buzzing, news will spread and the BFD will post a steady stream of updates from its own handle. So, bluntly, call boxes are outdated, and could be put to use in a more practical, 21st Century way.

“We understand [call boxes] aren’t the primary way people report things,” Boston Fire spokesperson Steve MacDonald told BostInno in a phone conversation. Though outdated, call boxes serve as “low-cost said insurance policy” in the event of an area blackout, he said.

Box maintenance costs less than $2 million per year, MacDonald said, noting the BFD has a $185 million operating budget.

These low-cost boxes still give Bostonians a way to connect with the City – just not the way some would like. Boston’s Office of New Urban Mechanics is trying to figure out how to remedy that.

Ultimately, if and when call boxes are transformed into a more useful public resource, “Priority number one” will be creating something that will support the fire department, Chris Osgood, New Urban Mechanics co-chair, said.

The BFD maintains the city’s call boxes. Despite initial hesitation to abandon the system, over the past year or so, Boston Fire has come around on the idea of turning these relics into accessible, contemporary public resources.

In 2008, Boston.com reported:

The Boston Fire Department has no plans to change the street-corner box alarms, according to John P. Henderson, superintendent of its Fire Alarm Division, which oversees communications and dispatching for the department. “It’s a great, great system,” he said. “To have it, gives peace of mind.”

Fast forward to 2013…

… Boston Fire adopted an adapt-or-die mentality; in order to save the City’s call boxes, the BFD partnered with New Urban Mechanics and the Department of Innovation & Technology.

Last February, Osgood told BostInno in a phone conversation, an RFI (Request for Information), asking Bostonians to submit ideas for new ways to use the Hub’s 2,200 call boxes.

New Urban Mechanics wanted to figure out a way to make call boxes relevant again. Osgood said his office fielded “a range of ideas,” and started considering the possibilities. One idea, Osgood said, was to update call box technology so that people wouldn’t just pull a handle down to alert the fire department, but actually be able to connect to an operator on the other end.

But that’s not all. Other ideas Osgood said were being considered included the possibility of turning call box locations into “Wi-Fi hotspots,” or setting up digital displays that posted news updates and information about events taking place in the area. Cool, right?

Later in 2013, after filing the RFI, New Urban Mechanics submitted an RFP (Request for Proposals) with the hope of making these new ideas a reality. “The [RFP] responses were good,” Osgood said. Unfortunately, however, Osgood said none were quite “what the fire department was looking for.”

So, talks have stalled. In fact, Osgood said the New Urban Mechanics are unsure when conversations will be “restarted.”

Part of the reason all parties have stopped tossing ideas around is the current instability within the BFD, which still needs to permanently fill a number of high ranking positions, including commissioner. With the recent turnover under the Walsh administration, many new BFD officials, MacDonald said, have yet to mull over call box proposals.

Still the thought of ancient, outdated, Boston Fire call boxes joining the digital age isn’t just exciting – it makes sense.

Case in point – Wicked free Wi-Fi, the 1.5 square mile wireless network in Boston’s Grove Hall area that went live April 9. “We are launching this in a neighborhood where there’s not a lot of access to Wi-Fi,” Mayor Walsh told the Boston Globe.

With numerous, free Wi-Fi hotspots cropping up throughout Boston, allowing people to connect to the internet via fire department call boxes would be a logical next step towards expanding public access to what’s become an essential resource. However, displaying digital messaging systems that provide news updates and events at call box locations – in addition to making these areas’ Wi-Fi zones – would connect the City of Boston even more to its residents.

In order to do this, MacDonald said the city’s call boxes, which are powered by an underground voltage system, would have to be converted to a lower voltage to make them compatible charging stations.

But free, public internet and an innovative operating system could merely be the tip of the iceberg if New Urban Mechanics and BFD are able to come to terms and implement new call box technology. Imagine call boxes equipped with Wayfinder maps? Or, what if call boxes became another location to fill up MBTA CharlieCards?

While exciting, people need keep their expectations in check. Until the BFD approves a proposal – which has to, first and foremost, be deemed necessary public safety infrastructure – call boxes will remain barely more than historical Boston artifacts, unable to keep pace with the times, providing dwindling value to the city.

 

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