Author Amy Anderson
Did I lose you in the title? Fire alarms! Ah, those mysterious systems required by, discussed in, and described by hundreds of pages of sometimes baffling and circular code text. They can be intimidating to think about. Have you considered that these mysterious red boxes could have information helpful in a loss? Let me describe why it could be advantageous to have a knowledgeable person to check out the fire alarm system after a loss, and not just for fires. Just as an airplane’s black box may hold information useful to figuring out the circumstances of a crash, a building’s red box (fire alarm control unit, FACU for short) may hold information useful to figuring out the circumstances of a loss.
The mysterious fire alarm control unit (FACU) can offer informational gems
*Caveat: There are many differing requirements around fire alarms for different occupancies, and then possibly exceptions and alternatives for how those are executed. I am pondering here a somewhat ‘basic’ fire alarm system that has an “alarm service” that monitors it and contacts fire services when needed.
Conditions in a fire alarm system can be designated as alarm, supervisory, or trouble signals.
A fire alarm control unit’s (FACU) screen. Three condition indicators for alarm, supervisory, and trouble are boxed. This panel is in “Normal,” so all of these lights are off.
An alarm condition indicates an immediate threat to life, property or mission. Examples of signals which can be alarms: smoke detector activation, heat detector activation, manual pull station, sprinkler system waterflow, fire pump running (sometimes). Interestingly, not all alarm activations will set off the building evacuation alarm (horns and strobes). For example, a smoke detector in a single hotel room may show up at the FACU as an alarm, but only the horn(s) & strobe(s) in that room would activate. If an additional alarm signal comes in, it may extend to a general building evacuation.
Supervisory conditions. When a site has fire protection systems installed, a fire alarm system will keep tabs on, or “supervise,” parts of those systems. The idea is to make sure that they are “good to go.” Examples of items that are supervised include fire protection system valves, a fire protection water tank’s level, the air pressure on a dry sprinkler system, and fire pump systems. Supervisory conditions signal a possible problem or impairment; something may be wrong that should be investigated and corrected. For instance, if a sprinkler system’s valve is closed when it should be open, the system is not “good to go” and the fire alarm system would indicate a supervisory condition on the valve. Sometimes fire pump running is supervisory. Issues with a fire pump unit, like engine high temperature, engine low oil pressure, failure to start, phase reversal or power loss, are supervisory conditions. Side note, for anyone with a diesel engine-driven fire pump: high temperature and low oil pressure will not cause a fire pump to shut down; a fire pump will run to failure or until out of fuel! That’s important when there is a for-sure fire situation.
Trouble conditions indicate faults in the system; these indicate that the system or a part of it is broken or not as it was programmed to be. Examples include electrical conditions like ground faults and shorts, and extra, missing or failed devices on a circuit.
A fire alarm control unit’s (FACU) screen indicating a Trouble condition. The screen gives additional information on that condition is.
Alarm, supervisory and trouble conditions are all transmitted to the monitoring station. For alarms, the monitoring station will contact emergency services. For supervisory and trouble conditions, they’ll often contact owners or designated location contacts.
Another noteworthy thing an FACU does is test its communication with the central monitoring station every day. Think of it like the cellular commercial where the guy asks, “Can you hear me now?,” and someone on the other line responds. When the central station doesn’t get that check-in from the FACU, there may be a problem with the communication pieces of equipment at the protected building or with the FACU like low battery from an extended power outage. With area-spanning events, it could indicate a service outage.
An event history is very often saved in the memory of the fire alarm control unit. The central station would also have activity logs for the information received from the FACU and what action the operator took.
Nice. Great. How is that possibly helpful? In short, the fire alarm data can clarify events and timing: what happened and when it happened.
These logs can verify testing activities undertaken by fire alarm and fire sprinkler contractors.
For a non-fire incident involving fire protection systems, fire alarm information could frame and fill in the puzzle. A water flow alarm triggers when a sprinkler system activates, and smoke detectors may alarm or give trouble conditions if they are doused with water. This can show where and when water was flowing. A sprinkler system valve supervisory condition can show the activity of people responding to shut off the water flow.
For a fire, the fire alarm system could give all sorts of potentially useful information. Such information could help narrow down the time when and the area where a fire started. It could demonstrate the activation of fire protection systems or document off-normal conditions that preceded the fire. A smoke or heat detector may help indicate the area where a fire started, but so might trouble or ground fault signals on circuits where heat from a fire causes fire alarm wires to short or the circuit to lose communication with devices on that circuit.
Hopefully you see how advantageous it could be to retain an expert knowledgeable in fire alarm systems for your next loss.
Amy Anderson, PE, CFEI, has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Clemson University and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Fire Protection, as well as a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator. Amy has over 20 years of engineering experience including property loss prevention engineering specializing in fire protection, chemical and pharmaceutical facilities. She has partnered with clients to identify, assess, avoid, and reduce risk at their commercial and industrial properties. Additionally, she has assisted with the development of building and fire protection specifications, reviewed plans and performed site visits. She has reviewed project documents for compliance with applicable standards – construction, fire protection, process, and combustible dust hazards. Amy is a member of the National Association of Fire Investigators, the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, the National Fire Protection Association and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
