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Plenty of great stuff brought up re: Keyholders, ETA's, taking doors or not, etc on Automatic Fire Alarms.
Here's a little tidbit you may not know though- how long do you think it takes an alarm company to notify the appropriate agency? 2 minutes? 5 Minutes? 15 minutes?
Again, every alarm company and every jurisdiction is different. But what amuses me is that when there is a "working fire", the alarm company
-typically- calls around 15 minutes into the incident. Units are already on scene & operating.
So, going by that logic, is someone breaks into my house and I have an alarm, they have plenty of time before the PD is even notified.
Or a fire breaks out. My neighbor notices smoke from my house and calls the FD. The alarm doesnt go off for another 8 minutes.
"Safety & Security"- instead of getting an AFA in your house, spend the $$ you would and get a dog and some good/loud smoke detectors, and befriend your neighbors. Thats the best kind of alarm to have, the human kind.
We had an AFA the other day. When I arrived, a female was in the doorway. Well, after the crew investigated and found it to be a malfunction, the capt said he spoke to the homeowner on the phone. If the homeowner was on the phone, who was that woman in the doorway. Turns out to be the neighbor who was contacted prior to us by the alarm company.
The basic burglar alarm isn't designed to catch the guy in the act. I's made to be a deterrent. You'll find signs and stickers all over homes and business that have alarms. Hopefully a burglar will pick a house with no alarm figuring he has more time and a greater chance of not being caught.
Fire alarms , because they are usually piggybacked onto burglar alarm systems have a delay that is just part of the system.
The alarm controller has to dial the alarm company, that triggers the alarm company response, they in turn notify the appropriate response. Once again, you're playing phone tag. Compound that with a power failure etc. and the alarm company dispatcher is working like a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.
Had an automatic alarm last week, pull up on engine hydrant across street worked out b/c no chiefs were on scene and saved me from a long walk. I look inside the door as i'm about to tell my MPO to lay in, the homeowner appears...COUGH, COUGH i called to cancel you! I was like ok did you want me to come back later when it was out 6 windows...No it's really nothing i didn't want to bother you guys. Snotty and greasy food on the stove no extentsion of course, but c'mon. I instructed the homeowner that the war years were behind us, "well some of us"...and that there is no need to cancel us until he gets a thermal imaging camera and a clue about firefighting. I felt his middle finger shoot up my spine as i walked away but he really was a bit out of line. I love how people CAN cancel alarms because it was JUST a toaster oven fire...but it's out. Or it was some workers downstairs...Are they sweating pipes are the doing electric? Bullsh!t AFA's are a nuisance especially when you are toes up, BUT they do get you off guard sometimes and they are a chance to pre-plan or peek at what is in your district.
I worked for a utility company.One day at a large development i had to test an electric meter for accuracy(customer complaint)When I pulled the meter a burgular alarm went off.Went about my business and 20 minutes later a county mounty showed up.Not one neighbor came out to see what was happening.Could have robbed the place and be long gone.
Whenever their is a Auto Burglar or Fire Alarm, the Alarm Co. will call the business/home first to see if it is a FA. If no one answers, or has an improper pass word, then they will notify the appropriate agency to respond. This no doubt is at least a 5 minute delay.
The only time the monitoring Alarm Co. will notify anyone(Police)immediately is for a silent-panic activation.
Depends on the alarm company some dispatch FD before they attempt to call the home, and others attempt to contact the home first. I dont know if this is a procedure that goes by company or if the homeowner has a choice in how its dispatched. My feelings are there should be 1 set of standards, especially for commercial accounts during business hours. The alarm companies should have to call the account first. How many times have you been toned out to, oh say McDonalds at 2pm, the first unit gets on the road and your dispatcher tells you "second call from the alarm company caused by cooking" this is a needless alarm. As I said some alarm companies dispatch right away, others call. Nassau County Chiefs councel or Fire Commision, whatever, should look into creating a standard for all alarm companies to use when dispatching fire alarms in Nassau County.
Last year we did a test and went to 5 members houses that have fire alarms linked to a central station. We activated the alarm and timed to see how long it would take for our dispatch center to recieve the call. Of course we told the alarm company it was a test only when they called the house for a password. On average it took 12 mins from the time of activation to the time of our dispatch receiving the call.
Every time we hear another auto alarm, most of us automatically down grade the alarm. I still do it, but I must say I have also been to quite a few fires from them as well. One included a fatality. I have also gone to CO alarms that also turned out to be working fire. "Everything isn't always what it seem to be."
My department has made certain buildings in my District Chiefs calls Like the Hospital for instance. If a chief is not on the road within 2-3 minutes the whole department gets toned out. If there is multiple call backs the whole department gets toned out. If the call comes from a cell phone the department gets toned out. The Hospitals private buildings are regular AFA's where the whole department gets toned. Also our department has started to give fines. If we respond there i think it is more then 3 times to a building for the same head or alarm they get fined and the fine increases if it doesn't stop.
Depends on the alarm company some dispatch FD before they attempt to call the home, and others attempt to contact the home first. I dont know if this is a procedure that goes by company or if the homeowner has a choice in how its dispatched. My feelings are there should be 1 set of standards, especially for commercial accounts during business hours. The alarm companies should have to call the account first. How many times have you been toned out to, oh say McDonalds at 2pm, the first unit gets on the road and your dispatcher tells you "second call from the alarm company caused by cooking" this is a needless alarm. As I said some alarm companies dispatch right away, others call. Nassau County Chiefs councel or Fire Commision, whatever, should look into creating a standard for all alarm companies to use when dispatching fire alarms in Nassau County.
150% correct- a standard SHOULD be established.
In FDNY, the Fire Prevention Bureau has inspectors ("Harvey") that actually go to commercial establishments and pull manual pull stations. They call beforehand and advise, and call afterwards to see what time the alarm was received by the dispatcher. Rumor has it that if the alarm is not received within the proper timeframe, the alarm co. gets fined. Again, most of the time it is typically at least 12 minutes. 12 minutes on a "manual pull station" til the dispatcher receives it is unacceptable ANYWHERE.
I really dislike em. If im at the firehouse and we get toned out, then I will put on the spacesuit, but with no sense of urgency. If anything I want to be second or third due, so I don't even have to leave the rig.. When im at my house forget about, this will be one alarm missed because I will not be responding. I know its bad but 9.5 out of 10 times its b.s
The problem is the alarm companies and the home owners do not get fined, how many unregistered alarms are received and transmitted ? To top that, what about say the old A&P's who used to donate food and beverages to the Nassau County FM's office, they were never fined, but, like anything else, its all about who you know.
OOS your right that 9 out 10 the alarm is unintentional, but occassionally they serve their pupose. I'm sure after the working fire is transmitted you'll catch up to us!!!
AFA's- Part 2
