The Celtic Manor in Newport, South Wales where the Ryder Cup is being held was evacuated in the early hours of Monday morning due to a false alarm with their fire alarm system. The BBC News website reports that a full evacuation took place and a spokesmen commented that, “The resort apologises to residents for the disturbance but their safety has to be the paramount concern in the resort’s fire alarm procedures.”
Whilst the safety of human life must be the main priority for any establishment and no fire alarm system can guarantee to avoid false alarms all together we are continually asked what can be done to minimise false alarms or at least the impact of them?
It goes without saying that the proper installation and maintenance of your fire alarm system will go some way towards achieving this. To help find an appropriate installer, organisations such as BAFE are set up to promote & accredit fire alarm installers who recognise & adhere to the relevant fire alarm standards. Finding a company who is accredited by BAFE will give you assurances that those installing your system know how to do so.
As previously stated there is no way of eliminating false alarms altogether however the standard does allow for a certain time delay between a fire alarm detector going into alarm and all of the fire alarm warning devices (sounder & flashers) sounding. Many fire alarm systems have specific functionality which helps you exploit this time delay.
Two examples of such systems include the Simplicity Micro addressable fire alarm system and the Fike (formally Rafiki) Twinflex 2-wire fire alarm system. Both systems allow for specific detectors to be put into verification or checkpoint modes which means should these detectors go into alarm then only the local sounder (as part of this detector) will ring for a set time period. This raises a local alarm alerting anyone nearby and also the control panel will show an indication of where this detector is. If the alarm is cleared in the time period the system will return to normal otherwise the system will go into full alarm.
This time period, however short, may provide the vital opportunity to investigate the alarm and on many occasions clear it before a full scale evacuation is required.
Both the Simplicity Micro Fire Alarm System and the Rafiki Twinflex Fire Alarm System are available now.
Discount Fire Supplies sell a range of fire alarms, fire alarm accessories and much more. Browse our online shop or contact us for a quote today.
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