Colonia FD to remove historic fire boxes BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer KATHY CHANG District 12 Fire Commissioner President Ray Hughes Jr. stands next to the only fire box that will remain in place at the Colonia Volunteer Chemical Hook and Ladder Fire Department on Inman Avenue. The fire commissioners made the decision to take down the 153 historic fire call boxes because they would cost too much to repair. WOODBRIDGE - After a bad rainstorm a few weeks ago, the Colonia Volunteer Chemical Hook and Ladder Fire Department made the decision to remove the 153 historic fire call boxes that are found on many streets in Colonia. "They have just become unreliable," said District 12 Fire Commissioner President Ray Hughes Jr., who has been a commissioner for 24 years and on the Colonia Fire Department for 37 years. "Two fire boxes were knocked out when a wire line came down during the storm," Hughes said, "and a signal should have alerted the system in the firehouse, but we never got it. We would like to keep them, but it would cost us too much to repair all of them. These boxes were made in the 1800s and haven't changed." By the end of the year, Colonia residents will have to say goodbye to the familiar red box, which uses the 1800 telegraph system, which have sat on utility poles and in the schools for over 50 years. The only fire box that will remain will be Fire Box No. 42, which is the main box in the firehouse. "We will have all the boxes taken down by the end of the year," said Hughes. "The wiring that connects to the box will take a little longer to take down, probably by next year because we have to call in a certified electrician to take them down." The 50-member Colonia Fire Department is one of the last departments in Woodbridge to take down the fire boxes. "Other fire departments took them down a long time ago," said Hughes. "I know the city of Rahway has downsized their fire boxes to 60 because of the same reason, the cost of maintenance." The department even used a ticker tape machine for their main system until lightning struck the building in 1995 and destroyed the system. "Then we updated our main system to a computer system, which we use today," said Hughes. Hughes and District 12 Fire Commissioner Ed Sheehan said there's one thing they will miss about the boxes. "The fire box alarm is instantaneous," said Hughes. "Whereas, the 911 call that the police department relays to central dispatch in Fords has about, I would say, a minute delay. At first we were deciding if we wanted to just keep the fire boxes in the Colonia schools because of the instantaneous factor, but each school has its own alarm system." Fire box calls have dissipated over the years and most have been false alarms. "In the 1970s, we would have 100 fire box calls," said Hughes. "Over the last five to eight years, there were not even a dozen calls. One in three calls are false alarms. We would have false alarms when the fire boxes were relied on more, but it's a lot different from years ago." Each fire box is assigned a number and a street. When someone would pull the fire alarm, a signal would be sent to the main system in the firehouse alerting the firefighters. The 911 system is a reason why the fire boxes have become close to extinct. "Everyone has cell phones nowadays," said Hughes. "You see the kids walk by and most of them have them. We are one of the biggest fire districts and we get help from the Avenel and Iselin fire departments. We field 450 calls a year." A phone that directly connects to 911 will be put on the utility pole across the street on Inman Avenue from the firehouse in place of the fire box. "When we made the decision to take down the boxes, we knew something had to be put there, just in case," said Hughes. "We hope to have the phone up by the end of the year." The fate of the 153 fire boxes being removed may be that of a memento and not an emergency alert. "Many of our members want them," said Hughes. "But something with the law, we might have to set a price for them, so we can't just give them away for free."