-A fire alarm system can detect fires and ensure you are aware of the location of the source. This information will help to prevent property damage, injuries or loss of life.
-Fire alarm systems vary in complexity; however, they all have three basic components: detectors, a control unit and a sounder.
-The detector is either a smoke, heat or flame detector that signals when it detects a change in temperature in its surrounding area. The control unit receives this signal from the detector and determines if further action should be taken in order to initiate an evacuation process for example.
-Once the receives[/tooltip] a signal from the detector indicating that there is a problem with an area of the building, they will take action. This can be done in various ways including; sounding an alarm to notify occupants of potential danger, immediately energising warning lights on staircases or corridors depending on what would be most effective in where the fire is located.
-The final part of a fire alarm system are the sounders which are what you hear when there is a fire emergency. Most common sounders produce tones at about 80 decibels but if this isn’t enough then more sources of noise can be used including bells, sirens or even recorded speech messages
-Not many people know that … To ensure your property remains safe it is important to have a working fire alarm system installed by a professional. It is a good idea to test the system regularly and check all detectors for signs of defects or damage, as well as replacing old systems with newer ones which have more safety features.
-Fire alarm systems have been around since 1860 so they are now quite developed and commonly used in buildings where people work or live. In the past only large buildings such as factories, warehouses and office blocks had fire alarms installed but today most buildings from hospitals, residential areas to public buildings will have them fitted.
-Fire alarm systems have been extensively developed over time to meet current standards for safety however there is still a lot that can be done to improve their effectiveness following a review by a safety expert. Some of these improvements include heat sensitive detectors which would detect fires at an early stage and get people out of the building safely. It has been proposed to switch from analogue systems to digital ones which would make the system more reliable.
-Improvements in technology have allowed for new detectors such as wireless networked smoke and heat detectors, which in turn give firefighters a better picture of potential dangers in a building when they arrive at the scene of a fire
-As we continue into the 21st century there will be further developments which could mean that we may not always need to rely on human senses such as sight and hearing in order to detect dangers such as fires. This is because scientists are currently inventing special clothing with built-in sensors which will allow us to pick up higher temperatures than our current body temperature and judge if there is a high chance of a fire occurring, and in the future we could even have detectors inside our homes that would be activated when they sense smoke.