multialarm

English

Alternative forms

• multi-alarm

Etymology

From multi- +‎ alarm.

Adjective

multialarm (not comparable)

1. (US, firefighting, of a fire) Requiring the work of several firetrucks to contain or extinguish.
   • 1977 February 14, Joseph E. Galvin, “Under Fire”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Fires which have heretofore been one‐alarm skirmishes are now multialarm small wars.

   • 1977 July 25, “Fires Burn in Bronx and Brooklyn”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     Two multialarm fires burned out of control for several hours in New York City last night, one racing through seven frame dwellings and leaving more than 100 people homeless in the Morrisania section of the Bronx and another, reportedly set by arsinists^[sic], destroying a series of stores and residences in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.

Usage notes

• The alarm level is a measure of the resources required to deal with the fire; thus one might speak of a three-alarm fire or three-alarmer.