Increasing Your Fire Alarm Literacy
COMMUNICATIONS
Part one in a series that examines a vital link in the fire protection system.
FIRE AIARM systems play an important part in the total fire protection system of a structure. They are not intended to replace, supersede, or rival fire suppression systems such as water sprinklers. Instead, they are intended to complement, or round out, the total fire protection package needed for reasonable life safety and property conservation. Often fire alarm systems are “assigned” the primary duty of life safety protection because they tend to trip before sprinkler heads. While there is some truth to this, they also perform other fire protection functions.
Fire alarm systems are labeled manual or automatic. Both types very often are connected to suppression systems, monitoring status and activity. Fire alarm systems are occasionally tied into central station monitoring points. Some monitoring stations are referred to as proprietary stations, auxiliary stations, or remote stations. These central stations are a constant source of wonderment to the field firefighter since they are never seen or spoken to by the field. The vocabulary of central stations is also often unfamiliar to the field firefighter.
Fire alarm systems are important to the operations of the fire service because the responder is called on to interpret what the system is attempting to tell the user. If the field firefighter does not have a general knowledge of such systems, the usefulness of the systems quickly diminishes. In fact, a fire alarm system in the hands of an untrained firefighter can be downright dangerous.
Any fire authority can determine what a fire alarm system should look like. However, the best sources for determining appearance, function, and internal features are national engineering standards, which attempt to bring together the best designers, technicians, and users in the county to agree on fire alarm characteristics.
MAJOR INFLUENCES ON STANDARDS
Engineering standards are derived from two primary sources: the insurance industry, which tells insured risks what their systems should look like, and the National Fire Protection Association, which publishes engineering standards regarding fire alarm design and installation. While insurance industry documents are completely under the control of insurance industry management, NFPA documents tend to be more a reflection of all sectors of the fire service—private and public.
The NFPA system is not without its opposition forces, who are of the opinion that it is staffed with “pronouncers of technical things” with no grasp on the realities of suppression and prevention. However, the NFPA system is for all practical purposes the only internationally recognized, broad spectrum, intertwined system of fire protection standard promulgation.
It is true that some of the engineering standards have not been updated in years. However, that is not so much the fault of the NFPA system as it is the lack of aggressive and knowledgeable participation by the fire service in general. Still, the most widely used source for fire alarm systems is the NFPA.
The following agencies also influence fire alarm system standards:
Underwriters Laboratories Inc. While UL does have an interest in some fire protection systems, its influence is mostly in the area of fire alarm components. Such components include fire alarm control panels, pull boxes, detectors, and signaling devices. UL reviews designs and subjects products to environmental testing to determine whether the products are able to perform reliably in a given application. It even certifies the special wire required for fire alarm initiating and signaling circuits. However, when and where the wire is to be used appears in the National Flectric Code Section 760. The NEC is another label for NFPA 70, an NFPA engineering document.
UL also reviews fire alarm central stations to determine whether the facility and the staff are adequate in terms of physical plant, equipment quality, and training. A favorable review results in a UL certificate. Note: UL does not concentrate on writing universal systems performance and installation standards.
Factory Mutual. Like UL, Factory Mutual influences fire alarm systems by certifying through tests that fire alarm system components are designed and built with sufficient sturdiness. While FM influences system design in its own insured risks, it relies principally on the NFPA engineering standards for basic fire alarm system design and installation guidelines.
The FM principles and practices handbook, entitled Loss Pretention Data Book, consists of approximately nine to 10 three-ring binders filled with FM’s position on fire protection topics. These positions consist principally of modifications and interpretations of NFPA pamphlets. Note: FM does not promulgate universal system performance and installation standards.
Industrial Risk Insurers. Like FM. 1R1 publishes in-house design handbooks to help employees review and analyze present and potential insurance risks. IR1 does not become heavily involved in component testing the same way FM and UL do. The handbooks used in 1RI are based almost exclusively on NFPA fire alarm standards. IR1 concentrates on making certain that all levels of fire protection apparatus and systems are installed in its insured risks in accordance with at least the nationally accepted engineering standards. In certain areas, 1R1 requires that systems be designed to a higher level of performance than those outlined in the national standards. Note: IRI does not promulgate universal system performance and installation standards.
American National Standards Institute. ANSI addresses topics on a much larger scale than just fire protection. Virtually every component of an automobile, appliance, or other commercial mechanical product is influenced by the research and specification work of ANSI. ANSI’s influence on fire protection extends to specifications for components used in the construction and installation of fire protection systems. Piping used in fire suppression systems must meet ANSI specifications. NFPA standards refer to ANSI pipe specifications.
ANSI does prepare nationally accepted specifications for certain structure features such as a document describing features for the disabled in various occupancies. This document (ANSI 117.1, “Making Buildings and Facilities Accessible to and Viable by Physically Handicapped”) has been adopted by the federal government and most states. It relates to fire alarm placement features and to the levels of fire alarm sound and light signals necessary to meet the needs of visually impaired and hearing impaired people.
National Electrical Manufacturers Association. This organization is noted for its sponsorship of component performance and dimensioning (sizing) consistency across the various manufacturers’ product lines. For example, bidding for a fire alarm job would be difficult if all the suppliers in the bid procedure provided different enclosures, mounting box sizes, and conduit sizing and connections. NEMA coordinates dimensions, hole spacing, and minimum quality of enclosure finish and provides definitions of the ability of various enclosures and metal assemblies to withstand different environmental conditions. All manufacturers who adhere to these standards of comparison may advertise that their components are tested to some NEMA level.
NEMA also sponsors and provides an excellent national fire alarm training program. This program basically expands on NFPA fire alarm system engineering standards.
The agencies described above have a common trait: They all use NFPA engineering standards as a basis for their own standards or training programs. This does not imply that the NFPA is the developer of all this wisdom; it simply means the NFPA is the clearinghouse for placing and exchanging fire protection information. Certainly not all experts in the fire protection field agree with the procedure. Nevertheless, it is difficult to argue against a system that works well.
LOCAL AUTHORITIES
Some question whether local authorities should stray too far from the nationally accepted standards by promulgating technical standards on fire alarm systems or fire protection topics in general. The principle hazard in developing local engineering standards lies in the probability that, first, the developer does not have the expertise to understand fully the workings of a fire alarm system, or any fire protection system, for that matter. Second, the developer may forget or overlook the relationship one fire protection system may have to another. Failure to coordinate both of these areas properly will result in frustration to the designer, bidder, installer, tester, and even the public official.
There is no shame in not being equipped to decide these technical matters. Consider the broad spectrum of fire protection topics. More than 40 percent of a building code manual is devoted to the integrity of a structure when attacked by fire. Think of the hundreds of thousands of participants in the standard-making process. When local officials stick closely to the national standards, the construction industry cannot disagree. Instead, local officials must concentrate on understanding the standards and involving themselves with local industry in an effort to help the construction industry understand them as well.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Fire alarm system decision making involves system design, component design, reviewing designs, and testing designs. Fire protection engineers and manufacturing and engineering firms are the leaders in system and component design. Fire chiefs and fire marshals, on the other hand, are not usually qualified to comment meaningfully on design. There is a constant danger that both groups will venture outside their area of expertise and begin applying systems and components inappropriately. This danger most often manifests itself in the case of “homegrown” codes and standards.
The wise local official incorporates model codes and nationally accepted engineering standards into local law. At the same time, local fire agencies should make field operational needs known to manufacturing and engineering firms as well as committees that establish and approve standards. This is a major responsibility of the fire suppression services.
Officials also gather information on how these systems and components operate during actual fire situations and should pass this valuable information on to private-sector design and manufacturing organizations. This supports the position that a code enforcement-type official should be called on to evaluate building and fire protection performance after every significant fire.
Methods for acceptance testing of fire alarm systems and components are most properly developed by the people who designed and developed the products themselves. Test methods become generic and appear in the form of nationally accepted test standards. Other than insurance industry in-house manuals and procedures, the NFFA standards provide the only consistent, nationally accepted test methods. If every authority having jurisdiction decided to establish his own testing standards, chaos would reign. The construction industry would be brought to a standstill wondering what each jurisdiction wants the next time a fire alarm system is tested.
Many conclusions can be drawn from this discussion:
- There are many players involved in the process of placing fire alarm systems and fire protection systems in structures to protect life and property.
- Each player must stay within his area of expertise when it comes to making pronouncements or setting policy regarding system design, component design, system operation, and implementing changes in existing codes and standards.
- It is dangerous for public fire service managers to establish special local rules and regulations for the application of fire alarm systems if in-house expertise is not available to recognize the limitations and true intent of system applications and component applications. Time spent in the fire service, or
- firefighting experience alone, is not enough to decide intelligently about fire alarm system application and component application.
- Fire alarm systems, as well as every other fire protection system, must be considered and applied within the context of all other fire protection systems present in a structure.
- No fire protection system stands alone, just as fire sprinkler systems are not the sole solution to a fire protection problem. Consider construction type, occupancy class, and fire alarm systems intelligently.
- The process of protecting life and property from the ravages of fire demands a systems approach to fire protection. The component engineer, manufacturer, systems designer, fire protection engineer, and local authority having jurisdiction all play important roles in the protection process, and they all must cooperate with each other.
In future installments of this series we’ll examine the components and types of fire alarm systems in more detail.
