FIRE ALARMS

FIRE ALARMS

Author: Kobus Labuschagne

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A fire alarm system is built to the unwanted presence of fire by monitoring environmental changes associated with combustion. It is also an 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. What is in a fire alarm control panel? Well it has a hub, which monitors inputs and system integrity, controls outputs and relays information. In the business sector, a branch circuit is dedicated to the fire alarm system and its constituents. "Dedicated branch circuits" should not be confused with the individual branch circuits which supply energy to a single appliance. This type of alarm system consists 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. There is also the Building Safety Interfaces to consider. 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. 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: converted 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. There is also the Emergency  Elevator Service, this type of service is an 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).
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