Automatic Fire Alarm (AFA) Incident Reponses – June 2013

Over the past weeks, the Indian River Volunteer Fire Company, like many other fire companies and departments have experienced a significant increase in the number of incident alerts for automatic fire alarm systems, especially systems located in residential structures.

These incident alerts require a fire company response which has an impact on the volunteers and some responders may become complacent with regarding to automatic fire alarm incident alerts.

During the month of June, 2013, 17% of the incidents alerts have been automatic fire alarms.  The Indian River Volunteer Fire Company responded the following AFAs in June:

• Saturday, June 1^st@ 12:37 hours – Sussex Lane;
• Monday, June 17 @ 16:26 hours – Oak Orchard Road;
• Thursday, June 20 @ 13:15 hours – River Road;
• Monday, June 24 @ 14:18 hours - Windswept Drive;
• Tuesday, June 25 @ 04:21 hours - 18^thBlvd;
• Wednesday, June 26^th@ 1:19 hours – 18^thBlvd;
• Saturday, June 29^th@ 3:16 hours – Sunburst Path; and
• Sunday, June 30th @ 17:42 hours - Bayview Drive.

As a property owner, you could implement some of the following ideas that could reduce the quantity of automatic fire alarm incidents at your specific location.

Illustrated below are suggested ways to reduce automatic fire alarm incident alerts:

(1)  Evaluate fire alarm system designto ensure:  installation of detectors in correct locations and ensuring good maintenance and management of the system to reduce improper alarms.

(2)  Evaluate kitchen and cooking conditions to ensure that cookingis performed in designated areas with specific type of detectors, normally heat detectors with adequate ventilation.  Verify that optical and/or multi sensors are specifically utilized in the kitchen.