Wow, Boston's fire boxes (which work) don't need power to run.

"The city's street fire-box system still uses the same basic mechanism as employed in the 1852 boxes: A spring-based system inside the box generates Morse Code-like signals to a central alarm station that indicate the box's number, and so its location, without the need for fancy electronics or even an external power supply. The fire-alarm office has been located in the Fenway since 1925."

https://www.universalhub.com/2018/north-end-resident-pulls-fire-box-alarm-when-call

North End resident pulls fire-box alarm when call to 911 doesn't go through - and unknowingly recreates history

The Boston Fire Department reports firefighters were summoned to a fire at 94 Endicott St. in the North End around 5:14 a.m. by a resident who thought to use a street fire-alarm box when calling 911 from a phone didn't work - from the same location where the world's first ever municipal fire-box alarm was pulled in 1852. Read more.

Universal Hub
@ai6yr
Y3K and EMP resistant.
@ai6yr San Francisco still has them, they were first installed in 1865 and apparently cost over $1M to maintain. That’s well worth it IMHO, but I’ve heard talk of them being too expensive.
@ai6yr aren’t they great? We have them here in San Francisco as well, though they were installed later (in 1865).

@ai6yr

B-but it’s not “smart”…

No internet. No crypto. No mobile app. No rent-seeking. No monetization. No ads! Denying American business any means of enshittifying this fire-box system is downright un-American! Why, there oughta be a law….

@ai6yr Dumb cities are the smart choice 👍🏼
@ai6yr The laws of Physics disagree with this assessment. They definitely require power to operate.