I have been installing and servicing fire alarms for twelve years. At first it seemed simple: I screwed on the sensor, connected the cable - that's it. It turned out that everything is much more complicated.
A fire protection system is not just a box on the wall
When a client asks what a fire protection system is, I always start with the same thing. It is not a device, but a complex. Fire protection systems are an alarm system, a notification, sometimes smoke removal, sometimes automatic extinguishing - and it all has to work as a single organism, and not a set of separate boxes bought "because it's cheaper that way".
I remember the facility - a warehouse complex near Brovary, the tenant kept textiles there. The owner installed the alarm system about five years ago, the cheapest one possible. The sensors were triggered by dust about once a week. The tenant, tired of false alarms, simply disconnected half of the loop. Guess what happened next. A fire. A small, local one, extinguished in half an hour — but the alarm was silent, because some of the sensors had been cut off since last summer. No one knew about it, except the tenant. And the security guard, who was silent because he didn't care.
The cheapest alarm system that no one services is worse than no alarm system at all. Because it creates the illusion of security, not security itself.
The procedure for installing a fire alarm system — where it actually begins
Many people think that installing a fire alarm system is when the installer arrives and starts drilling walls. No. It all starts earlier — with the project, with the calculation of zones, with the category of the object according to fire hazard. If you skip this stage or do it haphazardly, you can drill as much as you want - there will be no point.
Next - approval of the project, installation of loops and detectors, commissioning, and only then commissioning with the appropriate acts. Honestly, it is at the approval stage that half of the customers want to simplify everything. "But is it possible without a project, you are professionals, you know where to put what?" It is possible. But then, when the inspection comes or, God forbid, a real fire, the lack of a project will be the first issue.
From what I would highlight as mandatory on this path:
- examination of the facility and determination of the category of premises;
- design taking into account the layout and materials of the building;
- installation with checking each loop, not "working on average";
- commissioning and training of personnel who will actually be at the facility.
Fire protection systems for buildings - where logic most often breaks down
And here's the thing. Fire protection systems for buildings are designed for a specific building, not "for a standard in general." An office center and a textile warehouse are different tasks, although on paper they are both “category B non-residential premises”. The burning materials are different, the evacuation routes are different, even the speed of fire propagation in the house is different.
And what if a building changes its purpose? It was an office, then became a warehouse - this happens more often than we would like. No one redesigns the system. Formally, the papers are in order. In reality, the alarm system is designed for a completely different load and completely different risks.
Fire alarm and notification systems - why the second part, if there is the first
There is often a misunderstanding here. People pay for the alarm system and believe that the notification is something additional, almost optional. No. Fire alarm and notification systems are a pair that works together: one detects, the other warns people and triggers evacuation. Without an alert, the alarm will simply notify the dispatcher that the building is on fire, and the people inside will find out about it themselves when they see smoke.
At one facility in Kyiv — a business center, nine floors — there was an alert, but the sound of the speakers was lost in the open space of the coworking space. The standards were met, the decibels according to the passport were normal, but in reality the person wearing the headphones simply did not hear the signal. They fixed it by adding light beacons. A trifle, but it saves.
Fire protection and fire alarm systems in real operation
Well, and the main thing, which the equipment sellers are silent about. Fire protection and fire alarm systems require maintenance, not one-time installation. Once a quarter, check the loops, once a year — full testing with simulated operation. Someone will say — expensive. Compared to what, a new roof after a fire?
It sounds simple. Until you hold it in your hands for the first time — with an evacuation plan, with a list of sensors, with a person on site who hears the word "trace" for the first time. Then you realize that the system lives as long as it is monitored. As soon as they stop — it is simply waiting for its moment to fall silent.