By Kevin Olmstead, Western States Fire Protection
The life safety of a commercial or residential building has many aspects. One vital concern for life safety is the maintenance and inspection of your fire system. A building may also have a fire alarm panel and a sprinkler system.
If the building has a fire panel, several electrical devices are connected to the fire panel to detect a fire and send out notification if one is detected. The basic design of a fire system will include smoke or heat detectors, pull stations, and horns/strobes. Depending on the building size, there might be other devices as well.
If the building also has a sprinkler system as part of the design, the building will have sprinkler heads throughout the structure. The sprinkler system is wired to the fire panel and has various switches to indicate water flow or system tampering.
The fire panel is like a laptop on the wall wired to all system devices described previously. These various devices can communicate system issues that cause the panel to beep and indicate an abnormal status. When the panel is beeping, please don’t ignore it; instead, you need to call for service.
If an actual fire is detected by an activated sprinkler head or smoke/heat detection, the fire panel will alert residents by activating the horns and strobes throughout the building. Everyone should evacuate immediately. The fire panel will automatically contact the monitoring call center, which dispatches the fire department and contacts emergency on-call personnel for that building.
If there are sprinkler heads in the building, these heads are activated to release water or a mixture of water with glycerin/glycol. The sprinkler head is only activated by heat (not smoke), causing the head to release.
However, if an object accidentally damages the head, that will activate the head as well.
All fire systems need regular maintenance and annual inspections to operate correctly continuously.
There are national and local fire codes that provide specific requirements for each district.
Generally, a system needs to be inspected by a licensed fire protection company at a minimum of once a year (maybe more, depending on the local jurisdiction codes). The local fire department may also do spot inspections at any time to check if a property complies. If the fire department finds deficiencies during their inspection, they will write up the violations that must be addressed promptly. The fire department’s random inspections do not replace the properties’ requirements to complete annual inspections and repairs with their fire protection vendor.
Whenever the fire panel starts to beep (driving you crazy), it indicates something is in trouble status; this is NOT an alarm unless the horns go off. This beeping indicates that the fire panel and/or sprinkler system needs service to determine the issue. When the fire panel is in a troubled status, the property must contact its fire protection vendor for service. Don’t wait until you have more severe issues.
Maintaining the rooms where your fire sprinkler systems are located is crucial. The fire sprinkler rooms are labeled as the “riser room .”If the fire panel is in the same room as the sprinkler systems, then you will likely see that door also marked with “FACP” (fire alarm control panel). Most fire panels are in the same room as the fire sprinkler controls, but they can be in another location in the building. If the fire sprinkler rooms are on a building’s exterior, they need proper heating to prevent freezing damage. It is recommended to turn your heaters on in these rooms at Halloween and off at Easter. Don’t forget to turn off heaters in spring because excessive heat damages electronics and batteries.
You can opt to have a temperature alert placed in the sprinkler room and wired to the fire panel.
This device will communicate whenever the temperature drops too low in the room. This simple temperature alert can save thousands of dollars of damage caused by a frozen sprinkler system during a cold snap.
Always include a line item in your budget for annual inspections and ongoing fire alarm and sprinkler repairs. Plan ahead in your budget for more oversized ticket items. As the system ages, you will need repairs and replacements. The average lifespan of a fire panel is 12-15 years.
Inquire with your fire protection vendor for an approximate cost for repairs or replacement.
The fire systems in a building are designed to protect lives and property; therefore, they need to be regularly inspected and maintained to operate when required appropriately.
Kevin Olmstead has worked with Western States Fire Protection for 12 years. Western States Fire Protection is a full-service fire protection company with over 40 locations across the United States.
