“One of the worst fires in a decade hit Brooklyn on Tuesday. Hundreds of firefighters responded to what began as an eight-alarm blaze and had progressed to 10 alarms by the evening. (The fire had shrunk to two alarms on Wednesday morning.) How does that alarm system work, anyway?”
Answers at Slate.
Puts me in mind of the old joke:
Q: If a one-l lama is an Eastern dignitary,
And a two-l llama is an animal,
What is a three-l lllama?
A: A big fire in Boston.