Make a Plan to Regularly Conduct a Fire Alarm

January 18, 2019 By admin

Having working fire alarms in your house or building is an integral way to help protect occupants from the threat of fire. It’s not just enough to install fire alarms and forget them, you need to periodically conduct a fire alarm inspection to make sure the alarmsare in working order and that they will be ready to protect you when needed.

The first step when conducting a fire alarm inspection for residential heat and smoke detectors is to make sure the batteries are in working order. If the batteries run out, your fire alarm becomes useless. Change your batteries as needed. At the minimum, change batteries twice per calendar year. While you are changing the batteries, check the terminal and terminal clamps to make sure they are clear of any type of rust or corrosion.

In multi-family residential or commercial buildings, you should check the electrical connections that will be powering the units most of the time as part of a fire alarm inspection. The battery is a backup and shouldn’t need to kick in unless the power is off for any reason.

While conducting a fire alarm inspection, take the time to test the horns and strobes and make sure they are functioning at all capacity and that they are loud enough to attract the attention of all occupants within the building. You can also test to make sure the automatic shift from electrical power to the battery backup works without a hitch.

All too often, it is the smoke that kills people in a fire. In many cases, fire alarm systems are made to detect both smoke and heat. When you’re checking your fire alarm system, check to see if you that your fire alarm responds to the slightest hint of smoke.

One last thing to check during a regular inspection is the display panel on your fire alarm system to make sure the panel is functioning properly. Obviously, you want it to be functioning properly in order to be used by firefighters who need to enter the building with the intent of containing the fire.

Fire alarms provide peace of mind, so regular fire alarm inspection is important; remember that your fire alarm system is only as good as its last test or inspection. In commercial and multi-family residential buildings, fire regulations require regular fire alarm system inspections and documentation by qualified fire safety professionals.  So make sure you are adhering to this schedule.