A fire alarm system is an active fire protection system that detects fire or the effects of fire. In so doing, it provides one or more of the following services: it notifies the occupants, notifies persons in the surrounding area, summons the fire service, and controls all the fire alarm components in a building.
A key aspect of fire protection is to identify a developing fire emergency in a timely manner, and to alert the building’s occupants and fire emergency organizations. This is the role of fire detection and alarm systems.
Depending on the building and use type, number and type of occupants, and criticality of contents, these systems can provide several main functions. First they provide a means to identify a developing fire through either manual or automatic methods and second, they alert building occupants to a fire condition and the need to evacuate. Another common function is the transmission of an alarm signal to other emergency response organization. They may also shut down electrical, air handling equipment or special process operations.
Addressable or “intelligent” systems represent the current state-of-the-art in fire detection and alarm technology. Unlike conventional alarm methods, these systems monitor and control the capabilities of each alarm device through microprocessors and system software. In effect, each intelligent fire alarm system is a small computer overseeing and operating a series of input and output devices.
