Fire

Most fire systems are required to have “Monitoring Service” or “Remote Station Monitoring”. In its simplest form “Monitoring” supervises a fire alarm or a fire sprinkler system for any alarm or trouble conditions. When an alarm signal is received, we dispatch the fire department and the building manager or owner. When a trouble signal is received, we take corrective action.

All signals from our fire monitoring system are sent to our central station. The central station is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The central station is ready to receive signals from your premises and take action. All fire monitoring systems send a signal to our central station every 24 hours. This is called a timer test. The timer test lets us know the system is operating normally and is not having any problems. If we do not receive a timer test, we know to take corrective action.

There are various forms of fire monitoring service. The following description covers the majority of our installations. A fire monitoring system will always have a fire communications module or a communications panel. The communications panel is required to have two conventional telephone lines by which the panel communicates to the central station.

As a life safety system, the fire monitoring system constantly supervises it’s wiring, phone lines, AC power, battery and general operations. If one phone line should fail, the system uses the other phone line to call our central station and notify us of a phone line failure. The same is true of most other system problems; the system calls the central station and identifies the problem so the situation can be corrected.

Computer automation is an essential part of the central station operation. The computers receive alarm and trouble signals and presents the information to the station operators. This allows them to take action as quickly and efficiently as possible.

When we receive an alarm, we dispatch the fire department. Next we contact the responsible parties (RP) provided by our customer until an RP is reached or all RP have been called. When we receive an alarm signal, we do not respond to the premises unless an RP directs us to do so or unless there are special service arrangements.

Fire monitoring is at the forefront of modern day fire protection. It insures the building owner and occupants that the fire department will be promptly dispatched in the event of a fire and that trouble conditions are promptly addressed and resolved.

NOTE: Be aware fire monitoring is a service that cannot be eliminated. Fire monitoring is part of the building fire warning system. It is a violation of state law and city fire codes to eliminate fire monitoring without fire department approval. Willful violation of state law can jeopardize insurance coverage that is intended to repair or rebuild a building in the event of a fire.