By Stephanie Maniaci, Director of Marketing
As a leading fire alarm integrator, Tech Electronics maintains strong partnerships with the first responders and authorities having jurisdiction that protect the areas we serve, and St. Louis is no different.
Last week, we collaborated with the Richmond Heights, Clayton, Brentwood, Shrewsbury and Webster Groves Fire Departments to lead a training session on the basics of fire alarm systems, helping ensure first responders arrive on scene with the knowledge and tools they need.
The training, led by our NICET IV Certified Technician Gregg Furtaw, focused on the fire alarm control panel and field devices, how to interpret alarms, and what actions to take upon arriving at the facility in an emergency.
“We’re basically going to go over how fire alarms work, how you guys can operate them, and how to read them so you understand the basics,” said Furtaw.
Conventional vs Addressable Fire Alarm Systems
Conventional and addressable fire alarm systems both serve the same purpose, but addressable systems provide a level of insight and system data that older, conventional systems simply can’t offer.
Conventional systems are divided into zones, but they don’t provide any visibility on the device level. Some systems can have hundreds of devices, and a zone could cover a wide area, like a floor or wing of a building.
In an emergency, the time spent trying to find which device(s) is causing the alarm takes precious time that could be spent addressing the situation.
“Has anybody ever had a building alarm sounding that says zone 3, and you’ve got to walk the whole building looking for the little red light at your old zone panel? said Furtaw. “We’re looking to get rid of a lot of those and replace them with addressables.”
Addressable fire alarm systems allow facility managers to note each device on a system, providing first responders with crucial information down to the location of a specific detector or pull station.
Some of these systems can include over 4,000 devices, where knowing the location of an alarm saves vital seconds.
They can also record event history so first responders and facility managers can see when a system encountered a trouble error or went into alarm, and when that alarm was acknowledged.
"We're trying to give first responders all the information possible so they can quickly assess the situation upon arrival and save valuable time."
Emergency Preparedness
First Responders in attendance felt it was a good opportunity to learn about and see the panel and devices in a non-emergency situation.
"We run a lot of calls with these fire alarm systems but they've usually already malfunctioned or the alarm's gone off, so we have a lot of training on that end, but it's cool to have this simulator set up and actually be able to set off the alarm and work on troubleshooting."
For more information on inspections, the maintenance and installation of fire alarm systems, or to schedule a consultation, contact us.
