The Fire Alarm Communications Center has been aptly termed the "nerve center of the fire department." Not a wheel turns in response to an alarm for a fire or an emergency until an alarm has been received and the appropriate assistance has been dispatched. In addition to the important work of dispatching alarms, the fire alarm communications office is the operations center of the department it serves. In the event of fire or other emergency requiring certain and fast response by fire department units, citizens may summon such assistance either by pulling a fire alarm box or by calling an emergency telephone number. After they have done either, they expect, and rightly so, the arrival of help in a minimum of time. The average citizen is neither interested in nor concerned with what takes place between his call for help and the arrival of apparatus, except he or she wants assistance without delay.

The Fire Alarm Communications Center sets in motion the machinery which produces response of the required units to the specified location. Fast and faultless action by this office contributes materially to the subsequent success of firefighting or emergency operations. A fire department could not function effectively without proper communications and since the Fire Alarm Communications Center represents "communications" it is a vital and essential part in the overall picture of firefighting and emergency operations, as well as the office where other emergency services such as police, or fire mutal aid cities are monitored, and from which direct communications are maintained with these agencies. The Fire Alarm Communications Center is the only agency within the fire department completely aware, at any given instant, of overall conditions in the entire city.

 Special Thanks to Chief Fire Alarm Operator Dave Doherty for providing information.