Posted By Andy Man
I've just had notification of Surre Fire & Rescue's new 'Call Challenge' procedure, effective 1st Jan 08.

In a nutshell, when they receive an automated fire alarm notification they will contact us to seek confirmation that there is a fire and attendance is needed before automatically deploying a unit.

It's a little more in depth than that - details at -http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/automatedfirealarms

My site is 100 sq ft site with office areas, warehouse and dispatch. I am confused and concerned as to how, in an effective time period, we can 100% confirm that there is or isn't a fire.

We have ample Fire Warden cover, but no guarantee that Fire Wardens will be in their zones at the time of activation.

Furthermore, we are a large premise with a number of areas that are locked at certain times of day for obvious security reasons, so a full sweep during evacuation is never going to be a realistic possibility.

Our current thinking is:

(a) Get people out as normal. If Fire Wardens or others confirm there is a fire, we call out the troops.
(b) If no actual fire has been confirmed to us, reset the alarm and wait to see if it reactivates. If they reactivate, we err on the side of caution and confirm a request for Fire Brigade attendance.

Yes, if the alarm does reactivate it could be a fault on the system but that is the only workable way we can think of.

Should we be endangering staff by requring them to re-enter a building, armed with zone information from the fire alarm panel, to investigate the activation?

I would be interested in feedback from others subject to the new Surrey pilot scheme as to how we can make this workable and support the iniatitive to avoid wasted calls to the fire brigade, whilst not sending our people back in to a building where there is a genuine fire incident.

Thanks

Posted By Andy Man
100,000 sq ft, sorry.

Wishful thinking...

Posted By stevehaigh
We are using the 4 minute system. Basically if the alarm activates you have 4 minutes to find the cause. If it is a false alarm you can inform the rescue service and they will not come out. Its a bit more in depth but if your system can be adapted it does work