Information AboutFire Alarm |
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A fire alarm is an are summoned, the building is Evacuated , people gather at predetermined assembly points, and a Roll Call is held. Fire alarms may be triggered automatically by Smoke Detectors , Heat Detectors , sprinkler flow switches, or manually. Manual Pull Stations and Manual Call Points are sometimes protected by Glass which must be smashed to set off the alarm. Protective covers may also be placed over the station to help prevent false alarms. The nerve center of a fire alarm system is the Fire Alarm Control Panel , where building personnel and emergency responders are able to locate the source of an alarm, pinpoint trouble or supervisory conditions, silence alarms, and reset the system. With the advent of the Americans With Disabilities Act Of 1990 , fire alarm systems changed dramatically. Along with an audible alarm, fire alarm notification appliances now have strobe lights to alert the hearing-impaired. Especially in college dorms and high schools, there has been an Epidemic of students pulling the fire alarm as a Prank . Since this wastes the fire department's time and resources for no reason, as well as initiates a meaningless evacuation of the building, it is often a Felony offense. If performed repeatedly, and at inconvenient times (e.g. late at night), such false alarms can lead to apathy among residents, causing them to take a real alarm much less seriously, or even ignore it. FIRE ALARM HORN A fire alarm horn is a device which alerts people of an , Edwards (now EST), Simplex , and many others. Improvements In the beginning horns were made with a metal plate and an electric shock would be sent to a small metal strip which vibrates the plate, causing the horn to make a vibrating horn sound. The volume was normally loud and volume could be controlled by the tightness or looseness of the metal strip. Horns such as the Wheelock 34T had this outdated technology. However Wheelock noticed as well as other fire alarm fanatics that the horn would sometimes skip, as in cause like a skipping sound in the horn, like the typical sound of when a CD skips. Wheelock then determined the horn useless, and then started drawing up some new ideas. For example the AH multitone pictured below: This horn is a two tone horn. And can be programmed to do either Code-3 Horn or Continuous Horn Sound. This can be used both outdoors and indoors. Another horn was to soon follow, the Wheelock MT. This horn is a multitone horn and can be programmed to do Continuous Horn, Code-3 Tone, Code-3 Horn, Slow Whoop, Hi-Lo, Siren, Bell, and Marchtime. This can mount onto an outdoor box or can be flush mounted to an indoor wall. The tone is produced using a special horn, not anywhere near the vibratone horn, and produces a high pitched chirping sound. Many horns nowadays sound like this horn. Piezo horn Piezo horns produce a high pitched sound, similar to that of a home smoke alarm. The horns are usually applied in smaller rooms. These are not as loud as regular horns, as they sound in the range of 70 to 80 decibels. FIRE ALARM DEVICES Fire alarms have devices connected to them to detect the fire/smoke or to alert the occupants of an emergency. Below is a list of common devices found on a fire alarm.
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Alarm manufacturers
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