Fire Alarm

Fire Alarm Systems

by Michael O'Brian on January 10, 2009

Checklists and Resources for Fire Alarm Systems

Fire Alarm installation is typically based on the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 72 Fire Alarm Code.  Each adopted fire or building code refers to an edition of the NFPA. The most recent version of NFPA 72 is the 2007 edition.  A fire alarm system is a critical life safety system which can perform many duties such as occupant notification, closure of fire doors, supervision of automatic sprinkler systems and notify the fire department.

Fire alarm systems must be properly designed and installed.  Systems which do not meet good fire protection practices typically result in false alarms which can create a “crying wolf” scenario for the occupants and responding fire apparatus.  The following are some basic resources for [click to continue…]

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Fire Alarm design is it engineering?

by Michael O'Brian on August 3, 2008

michael bakerA special blog post by Michael Baker

As I travel the USA I notice that some states consider fire alarm system design to be engineering. My state of Oregon has been wrestling with this issue since at least 2004 when OSBEELS (Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying) asked the Oregon Department of Justice to opine on the role of a fire alarm system designer. The result was a declaration that the design of fire alarm systems is considered to be engineering and therefore may only be done by an Oregon licensed professional engineer:

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