Post by ic59 on Feb 1, 2021 9:51:50 GMT -5
Remembering the fire whistle came to me when I was watching Cable 12 News and their list of school closings due to today's snow storm. Back in the 1940's in the town of Eastchester, we had a Volunteer Fire Department, with very few paid firemen. So when there was a fire, the volunteers fought the fire. So barbers, store keepers, and others would leave their shops, and places of work, whenever the fire whistle blew. Remember this was before:
1. Cell phones.
2. Touch tone phones,
3. Dial phones (you lifted your rather heavy phone, and an operator would say, "Number please").
Hence, they used the fire whistle. The location of the fire was determined by the four digits that blew. In addition, in the case of snow, at 8AM the whistle would tell us that there would be no school, today. ICS had a code, Eastchester public, Tuckahoe and Bronxville public had different codes. If memory serves me right, I think ICS had three series of four blasts (four/four/four). This meant elation, but, of course four/four/five meant devastation as that was for one of the public school systems. As they say, "We've come a long way, baby."
1. Cell phones.
2. Touch tone phones,
3. Dial phones (you lifted your rather heavy phone, and an operator would say, "Number please").
Hence, they used the fire whistle. The location of the fire was determined by the four digits that blew. In addition, in the case of snow, at 8AM the whistle would tell us that there would be no school, today. ICS had a code, Eastchester public, Tuckahoe and Bronxville public had different codes. If memory serves me right, I think ICS had three series of four blasts (four/four/four). This meant elation, but, of course four/four/five meant devastation as that was for one of the public school systems. As they say, "We've come a long way, baby."
