Canberra at night was anything but quiet in 1970, a report in The Canberra Times on this day 51 years ago revealed.
The city lit up with alarms - false ones, that is - disturbing alarm manufacturers as well as the fire brigade.
It was standard practice for the brigade to notify manufacturing companies every time an automatic alarm system rang out - which was often.
The city probably had more automatic systems in a given number of buildings than any other in the country, chief fire officer JK Mundy said at the time.
The false alarms usually came from the same old buildings every time. A rapid change in temperature could also set them off.
"We are progressively reducing this rate by close co-operation with ... departments concerned and with fire protection companies", Mr Mundy said.
The brigade would never assume an alarm was false, until they had inspected the building and made sure it was safe.
The firefighters union said they were concerned the false alarms would lower morale.
"They are concerned that this lowers the morale of the men and turns public sympathy away from the brigade," a spokesperson said.
It could also result in someone being injured at a fire elsewhere, as firefighters attend to another false alarm, it was reported.
See trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/110459551
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