My old department in Hawthorne, N.Y. had 4 trumpets located under a coupala (sp ?). Where I lived, less than a mile from the station, and depending on the wind direction, you can either not hear them at all or be blown out of bed at 3am. Whenever work had to be done on the roof or surrounding area, they had to be shut off for fear of actually hurting someone, like blowing out someones ear drums. Another note is they actually have to be tuned to make their distinctive sound. That in itself takes some courage, since you have to be up at the horn while it is going off to tune it. The air compressor in the back room of the kitchen area was huge, about the size you would see in a gas station garage. I don't know if the still use a Gamewell box to activate them, but when an alarm was received a relay would trip the manual pull on the box for 3-3-3-3 delay 3-3-3-3. When I was young they were Gamewell boxes located throughout the town, but that was shut down in the late 60's, with the exception of 2 boxes on the outside of the Fire Station itself.
