Stopping False Fire Alarms

March 13th, 2007 | Bob Brown | Safety

Fire alarms are serious tools, but they are often ignored because we rarely believe there is a fire unless we smell the smoke. We have occasional false alarms, and since our building is typically occupied with people untrained in how to handle fires in this building it takes a lot of work to organize everyone out.

A few weeks ago we had a young man accidentally trigger a pull station in the dining hall 10 minutes before Saturday night’s service was over. Due to a scheduling conflict with a Beth Moore Simulcast we moved the Saturday service to the youth auditorium. Because this was one of our primary services, the First Impressions ministry was in charge but I don’t believe they were trained to handle evacuation from that auditorium. Communication broke down and I believe that nobody planned to leave in spite of the annoyance.

When I heard the alarm I scooped up my 2 year old daughter and ran to the main alarm panel to determine the cause of the alarm. I made some phone calls to other staff in order to notify them that it appeared to be a false alarm and quickly ran, child in hand, across the building to the triggered pull station and confirmed it was false. The pull station had been knocked by kids playing ball. It was a complete accident.

What can be done about accidental alarms?

The problem with pull stations is that they must be easily accessible, easily triggered, and immediately responded to. We could attach protective covers to the stations, but in some areas this is overkill while dangerous in others. Most covers are plastic based, but those won’t stand up against sports accidents; while the wire mesh ones are very imposing and look extremely damaging to the face and teeth.

What can be done about intentional false alarms?

Intentionally triggered false alarms have been a problem for as long as there have been alarms. Just check out this inadvisable false alarm deterrent.

Short of trapping someone in a blazing building you can use alarmed alarm triggers such as the Stopper II with horn (opens a page with video). Maybe you won’t have someone waiting a few feet away to tackle the perp, but the piercing alarm may be enough to keep someone from jokingly pulling the real alarm. On the other hand, it may cause confusion for someone truly reporting a fire.

What about Information once the alarm has been triggered?

I have been looking at another option to improve identification of alarms; information. The sign below lists cell phone numbers of the church administrator, associate administrator, and security director (the three people most likely to respond and handle the situation).

This is not currently in service (the photo is only a mock-up), but what do you think of the idea and the wording?

Please Comment Below.