AI6YR BenWow, 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.
Brian Dear