This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

A fire alarm notification appliance with a strobe light.

An automatic fire alarm system is designed to detect the unwanted presence of fire by monitoring environmental changes associated with combustion. In general, a fire alarm system is classified as either automatically actuated, manually actuated, or both. Automatic fire alarm systems are intended to notify the building occupants to evacuate in the event of a fire or other emergency, report the event to an off-premises location in order to summon emergency services, and to prepare the structure and associated systems to control the spread of fire and smoke.

Design[link]

After the fire protection goals are established - usually by referencing the minimum levels of protection mandated by the appropriate model building code, insurance agencies, and other authorities - the fire alarm designer undertakes to detail specific components, arrangements, and interfaces necessary to accomplish these goals. Equipment specifically manufactured for these purposes are selected and standardized installation methods are anticipated during the design. In the United States, NFPA 72, The National Fire Alarm Code is an established and widely used installation standard.

Fundamental configuration[link]

• Fire alarm control panel: This component, the hub of the system, monitors inputs and system integrity, controls outputs and relays information.

• Primary Power supply: Commonly the non-switched 120 or 240 Volt Alternating Current source supplied from a commercial power utility. In non-residential applications, a branch circuit is dedicated to the fire alarm system and its constituents. "Dedicated branch circuits" should not be confused with "Individual branch circuits" which supply energy to a single appliance.

• Secondary (backup) Power supplies: This component, commonly consisting of sealed lead-acid storage batteries or other emergency sources including generators, is used to supply energy in the event of a primary power failure.

• Initiating Devices: This component acts as an input to the fire alarm control unit and are either manually or automatically actuated. Examples would be devices like pull stations or smoke detectors.

Fire Alarm on a street in San Francisco.

• Notification appliances: This component uses energy supplied from the fire alarm system or other stored energy source, to inform the proximate persons of the need to take action, usually to evacuate. This is done by means of a flashing light, strobe light, electromechanical horn, speaker, or a combination of these devices.

• Building Safety Interfaces: This interface allows the fire alarm system to control aspects of the built environment and to prepare the building for fire and to control the spread of smoke fumes and fire by influencing air movement, lighting, process control, human transport and exit.

Initiating devices[link]

• Manually actuated devices; Break glass stations, Buttons and manual fire alarm activation are constructed to be readily located (near the exits), identified, and operated.
• Automatically actuated devices can take many forms intended to respond to any number of detectable physical changes associated with fire: convected thermal energy; heat detector, products of combustion; smoke detector, radiant energy; flame detector, combustion gasses; carbon monoxide detector and release of extinguishing agents; water-flow detector. The newest innovations can use cameras and computer algorithms to analyze the visible effects of fire and movement in applications inappropriate for or hostile to other detection methods.

Notification appliances[link]

• Audible, visible, tactile, textual or even olfactory stimuli (odorizer).^[1][2]to alert the occupants. Evacuation signals may consist of audible or visible appliances with a distinct audible tone or speakers to deliver live or pre-recorded instructions to the occupants.
• In the United States, fire alarm evacuation signals generally consist of a standardized temporal code 3 audible tone, with visual notification in all public and common use areas. Emergency signals are intended to be distinct and understandable to avoid confusion with other signals.

Other methods include:

• Audible textual appliances, which are employed as part of a fire alarm system that includes Emergency Voice Alarm Communications (EVAC) capabilities. High reliability speakers are used to notify the occupants of the need for action in connection with a fire or other emergency. These speakers are employed in large facilities where general undirected evacuation is considered impracticable or undesirable. The signals from the speakers are used to direct the occupant's response. The system may be controlled from one or more locations within the building known as Fire Wardens Stations, or from a single location designated as the building Fire Command Center. Speakers are automatically actuated by the fire alarm system in a fire event, and following a pre-alert tone, selected groups of speakers may transmit one or more prerecorded messages directing the occupants to safety. These messages may be repeated in one or more languages. Trained personnel activating and speaking into a dedicated microphone can suppress the replay of automated messages in order to initiate or relay real time voice instructions.^[3]

Emergency Voice Alarm Communication Systems[link]

• Some Fire Alarm Systems utilize Emergency Voice Alarm Communication Systems (EVACS) ^[4] to provide pre-recorded and manual voice messaging to building occupants. Voice Alarm systems are typically used in high-rise buildings, arenas and other large "defend-in-place" occupancies such as Hospitals and Detention facilities where total evacuation is difficult to achieve.^{[citation needed]}
• Voice-based systems provide response personnel with the ability to conduct orderly evacuation and notify building occupants of changing event circumstances.^{[citation needed]}
• In high rise buildings, different evacuation messages may be played to each floor, depending on the location of the fire. The floor the fire is on along with ones above it may be told to evacuate while floors much lower may simply be asked to stand by.^{[citation needed]}

Building safety interfaces[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

• Magnetic Smoke Door Holders: Wall or floor mounted solenoids or electromagnets controlled by a fire alarm system or detection component that magnetically secures spring-loaded self-closing smoke tight doors in the open position. Designed to de-magnetize to allow automatic closure of the door on command from the fire control or upon failure of the power source, interconnection or controlling element. Stored energy in the form of a spring or gravity can then close the door to restrict the passage of smoke from one space to another in an effort to maintain a tenable atmosphere on either side of the door during evacuation and fire fighting efforts.

• Duct Mounted Smoke Detection: Smoke detection mounted in such a manner as to sample the airflow through duct work and other plenums specifically fabricated for the transport of environmental air into conditioned spaces. Interconnection to the fan motor control circuits are intended to stop air movement, close dampers and generally prevent the recirculation of toxic smoke and fumes produced by fire into occupiable spaces.

• Emergency Elevator Service: Activation of automatic initiating devices associated with elevator operation are used to initiate emergency elevator functions, such as recall of associated elevator cab(s). Recall will cause the elevator cabs to return to the ground level for use by fire service response teams and to ensure that cabs do not return to the floor of fire incidence. Phases of operation include primary recall (typically the ground level), alternate/secondary recall (typically a floor adjacent to the ground level - used when the initiation occurred on the primary level), illumination of the 'fire hat' indicator when an alarm occurs in the elevator hoistway or associated control room, and in some cases shunt trip (disconnect) of elevator power (generally used where the control room or hoistway is protected by fire sprinklers).

UK fire alarm system categories[link]

There are many types of fire alarm systems each suited to different building types and applications. A fire alarm system can vary dramatically in both price and complexity, from a single panel with a detector and sounder in a small commercial property to an addressable fire alarm system in a multi-occupancy building. Systems have to protect both buildings and occupants.

The categories of fire alarm systems are L if they are designed to protect life, P to protect buildings and M if they are manual systems.^[5]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fire alarm

• Active fire protection
• Fire alarm control panel
• Fire alarm notification appliance
• Fire protection
• Fire Safety Equivalency System
• Multiple-alarm fire
• National Fire Protection Association

References[link]

External links[link]

• Example Specification Section 283100 Fire Alarm Systems
• Authoritative guide to fire alarm systems in UK
• NFPA Standards
• Fire alarm weekly testing
• Fire Detection System

v t e Fire protection General Passive fire protection  · Active fire protection Fire suppression Fire extinguisher  · Fire sand bucket  · Fire sprinkler  · Gaseous fire suppression  · Fire blanket Detection Heat detector  · Smoke detector Notification Fire alarm system  · Control panel  · Pull station/call point  · Fire alarm call box  · Notification appliance  · Smoke detector  · Fire drill