VIDEO: Pennsylvania recently experienced intermittent outages with its 911 systems, but that’s not the only way to call for help in an emergency. The Gamewell System, or fire boxes, allows people to send an immediate signal to a nearby fire department in the event of a telephone outage. On Sunday, the Silent Sentinel held an axe-throwing fundraiser at The Chopping Block in Pottsville to repair and maintain those boxes. Andy Gudinas of The Silent Sentinel explains, “The backup for the Gamewell system is paramount. It’s 30 seconds, no questions, and the fire department shows up. And it’s not just for fires, like you could use them for any emergency because, you know, you’ll still get a response. It’s definitely the most reliable fail-safe for a system.” There are more than one thousand fire boxes across seven municipalities in Schuylkill County, including Mahanoy City, Shenandoah, and Pottsville.
