Fire Alarm Station. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A historic fire alarm, Le Marais, Paris.

This is a photograph that began as a simple, spur-of-the-moment thing and ultimately led me down a rabbit hole of information about the history of fire alarms. I saw this thing while walking in Le Marais. It looked interesting, and the shiny red paint caught my eye, so I photographed the upper part of it with the alcove and barred windows in the background. Later I finally looked into it and learned a LOT about fire alarm systems. The earliest apparently were created about 200 years ago — and before that alarms were delivered by… sending a runner. In the 1800s telegraph technology was eventually used, and near the end of the century early telephone technology made its appearance. Paris was late to the game, with their first alarms in the late 1800s. This one dates to the early 1900s, and people reporting fires would break a glass window and then speak to the department via telephone. Whew.

One other interesting thing came from this photograph. Recently I was working on a photograph of a Paris church, and I did not recognize it. I knew I made it on a day when we walked in and around Le Marais as other nearby areas, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then, as I worked on this fire alarm photograph I realized that the building is reflected in the window at the right! Since I could easily find the location of the fire alarm (it is the only one in this area), I went to it on a digital map and there was the church! (More about that location later when I share its photograph.)

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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