On November 4, 1895, J.W. Cordes and a Council Committee thoroughly examined the alarm system in Washington, PA made by the Gamewell Company.  Believing that the system was far superior to any other alarm system, they recommended a similar installation for Charleroi.  The Council contracted the Gamewell Company for the installation of 18 alarm boxes to be installed at specified locations within the borough.  A heavy general alarm bell was placed in a tower in the fire station and operated in conjunction with a smaller bell and box indicator in the engine room.  On March 5, 1900, J.W. Cordes was elected fire chief and he was required to maintain the alarm system.

     In 1910, when the fire department moved into the new borough building, a new control panel that measured approximately 8 feet by 22 feet was installed.  Later, a diaphone air horn was installed on the roof of the borough building.  New boxes were added on the streets as the town grew.

     In 1960, when the department moved into its new home and current station, the department purchased a new control panel measuring 4 feet by 6 feet, 18 inches deep, a far cry from the old panel in the borough building.  At the time the alarm system consisted of 38 street boxes, 6 district boxes, the diaphone air horn, a ticker tape recorder, and the large alarm bell in the truck room of the station.

     To supplement the fire alarm system, the fire department installed a set of bells in each home of the members.  The system was installed by Bell Telephone Company and the cost was borne to the department, while the Charleroi Borough Council continued to maintain the fire alarm system.

      In the early 1980's due to numerous false alarms, and the cost of maintaining the pole boxes, it was decided to remove all the boxes from the borough poles.  Fire alarms now had to be called in by phone.  With the loss of our paid drivers in 1985, the fire department went with having our calls dispatched by Monessen Ambulance Service.  

     With the rising cost of the bell system the department decided to replace the bells with Motorola Minitor.  The Minitor is a pager, that when activated a set of tones will alert the member of a call and a message is broadcasted over the minitor letting them know there is a call and where.

     In the early 1990's, Washington County 911 Dispatch Center went into effect and assumed the responsibilities of dispatching all of our calls.  Presently the department is still dispatched by the Washington County 911 on frequency 33.98MHz.  The members are still alerted by their personal minitors.  Once activated for a incident, our members are permitted to go directly to the scene within our response area, while the engineers respond to the station.  Once a engineer arrives at the station they acknowledge the call and activate the diaphone air horn corresponding with the location of the call and respond with the appropriate apparatus. 

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