Fire Alarm Systems

Fire alarm systems can change depending on your building structure, however, all alarms operate on the same principle. When detecting heat or fire the wireless smoke detector alarm will sound to warn others in the building that there is a possibility of a fire hazard and to evacuate.

Following a Fire Risk Assessment you may be required to install a system that falls into 2 basic categories. Property Protection and Life Protection;

BS5839 Category P Fire Alarm System is property protection. These systems are split into 2 classifications;

P1 is designed to protect the whole building and to minimise the time from the start of the fire to the Emergency services on the scene.

P2 is designed to protect specific areas of a building only which may have been identified as hazardous or high risk.

BS5839 Category L Fire Alarm System is life protection. These systems are split into 5 classifications;

L1 is designed to include automatic detection in all rooms, on all escape routes and in all voids over 800mm in height.

L2 is designed to include automatic detection in escape routes and all rooms leading on to and escape route plus high risk areas.

L3 is designed to include automatic detection in escape routes and all rooms leading on to and escape route.

L4 is designed to include automatic detection in escape routes only.

L5 is designed for specific localised areas. This might be a Computer suite where a sprinkler system might be activated by a fully automated system and cause damage to expensive equipment.

Manual systems

A manual system consists of red Manual call points that allow people to activate a system to warn others in the building of a Fire

Conventional systems

Conventional fire alarms will have call points and detectors which are wired to a fire alarm control panel in different zones. Zones are allocated to give a rough idea of where the fire has started. The fire brigade will use this system when arriving at an incident.

Addressable Systems

Hard wired and/or Hybrid Wireless

Addressable systems will determine and pinpoint which detector or call point has caused the alarm to be set off. Addressable systems are installed by a loop allowing up to 99 devices to be connected. The control panel is programmed to show the address where the fire has occurred. This fire alarm can trigger sprinklers to start when connected to the loop preventing fire spread. The Hybrid range allows for wired and wireless installations to significantly reduce installation time and inconvenience.