False alarm prevention is a serious concern for most homes of multiple occupancy such as care homes, student halls and even hospitals. If a false fire alarm instance occurs, residents are likely to have to evacuate the building; this can cause inconvenience and panic amongst vulnerable groups.
It can even be costly, for both the organization due to down time and hours of business lost during the false alarm incident, and for the fire and rescue service who would have to attend the scene.
Multi-sensing detection technology
Technology from FireClass can help reduce the number of false alarms. As well as multi-sensing detection technology, which is designed to only activate if more than one element of fire is present; detectors from FireClass can be programmed to alarm in isolated zones, or areas for a certain length of time to prevent a full alarm instance or evacuation when it is not necessary.
In the case of a false alarm for example, in a block of student halls of residence, when one detector is activated, the system can be programmed so that this activated detector does not trigger a full alarm and evacuation. The detector can be placed on a timer so if it remains activated and continues to sense high levels of smoke, heat and CO for a set number of seconds or if a second detector is activated, the system will enter in a full alarm state.
In the case of a false alarm, the initial detector that triggered the alarm will sense levels of smoke, heat and CO contamination drop below the fire threshold and recognize that there is no real fire; consequently, the system will clear, preventing the entire false alarm episode.