1.   At first they paid no attention because, they said, dorm residents pulled the alarm boxes as pranks.

2.   At the same time, city alarm boxes stood every two or three blocks on most of these streets.

3.   But Fire Commissioner Howard Safir challenged the idea that the reliability of public telephones was an essential element in his plan to remove the alarm boxes.

4.   He said he pulled a street alarm box and then ran to the building.

5.   Safir said the administration is still committed to the removal of the alarm boxes.

6.   By now, alarm boxes all over the area had sounded and firemen and police swarmed to the scene.