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Since 1626, the storm bells were only to be rung for larger fires, the bell fires, in order to reduce the effort required for fire-fighting teams and probably also to avoid attracting too many curious onlookers. Their other task in the Middle Ages was to detect approaching enemy armies. Given the size of the city´s territory at that time, this had become irrelevant. Around 1637, there were also ”watchmen posts” on the towers of Hamburg´s main churches: St. Petri, St. Jacobi, St. Katharinen, St. Nicolai, and St. Michaelis. It was only after the fire at St. Michael´s Church in 1906 and the death of the stationed firefighter Carl Beurle that the tower posts were withdrawn (they still existed for a while on the towers of St. Jacobi and St. Katharinen). Around 1859, the fire-fighting teams were still alerted by verbal communication, blowing horns from the towers, ringing the storm bells, and displaying flags or lanterns. The watchmen of St. Michaelis, St. Katharinen, and St. Jacobi were connected to the nearby fire stations through speaking tubes.