Archive for December, 2009

I saw this article in the online magazine ‘The Journal’ it was written by Elisabeth Griesedieck
Wednesday 25 November 2009, The Journal Issue 28.

Regular false fire alarms could lead to fatalities

Records show out of 512 fire call outs in 2008, only 4 were for fires

Once I had read the article I felt moved to post a reply in order to explain that in my view false alarms were caused by the lack of planning and design know how and that even if they had occured they should and could be managed out of the system.

The original article

Less than one percent of all fire call outs to student accommodation at the University of Edinburgh were for “real fires” last year according to statistics released by the university.

Records kept by the University’s Fire Safety Unit show that Lothian Fire and Rescue Services respond to over 300 false fire alarms at the University of Edinburgh per year.

“The recurring fire safety issues associated with students tend to be false alarms, kitchen fires and fires caused by smoking materials,” says Geoff Aird, community safety manager for the local fire brigade.

“And there is always the odd student who thinks it’s fun to set off the alarm in their halls,” Mr Aird added.

When mechanical faults, malicious alarms, and actual fires are included in the count the total calls that the fire brigade responds to at the university average out to 500 per year.

In 2008, only 4 of 512 calls to the brigade constituted real fires. Figures for the final quarter of 2009 will be released in December, however the total calls since January until the end of September is already around 400.

Michael Moore, the university’s fire safety advisor, attributes the high numbers to lax attentiveness on the part of students.

The university undertakes initiatives to raise awareness, which include offering educational programs at the start of each academic year, training for residence hall staff, and distributing posters around campus.

At present Lothian Fire and Rescue service do not charge the university for excessive false alarms, yet it reserves the right to exercise this power.

Fire brigades in England and Wales have already introduced fines for excessive alarms applicable to corporations and individuals with negligent habits or faulty systems.

The fines range from small charges of £120-£250 for individuals to larger penalties in the thousands of pounds for non-compliant corporations.

UK Fire Training, Information, and Consulting lists on its website the hazards of a system with a “reputation of generating false alarms”.

False alarms “undermine occupants trust in and response to alarms” and “place occupants at risk because they may not respond to a real alarm for a real fire.”

These dangers have been felt on university campuses before.

In 2000, a New York university, Seton Hall, witnessed one of the worst dorm fires of the twentieth century when a couch was set ablaze. Students failed to evacuate the building, as the fire followed on a month of false alarms. 3 died and 60 were critically injured, including several firemen.

Natalie MacKay, a student in university accommodation at Kincaid Court, worries that such an event could reoccur here: “There have been times when I haven’t evacuated the block; especially if it’s the fourth alarm that week. I just assume it’s not real.”

Mr Moore’s message is directed toward such responses. He says, “We all must treat these systems with care. Not doing so could cost someone their life.”

The First reply (Not mine)

Madeleine Ranges
Sat 28 Nov 2009
“Michael Moore, the university’s fire safety advisor, attributes the high numbers to lax attentiveness on the part of students.”

What a load. I live in the S. Clerk St. dorms and the fire alarm goes off at least once a week. We received a warning in the mail recently about how we were responsible for one of the false alarms and if we were to do it again we would be responsible for a fee of a couple hundred pounds…as if we set it off on purpose? I know I just LOVE waking my fellow students up at 7:30 in the morning with a false fire alarm. The problem lies in the over-sensitivity of the alarms and very rarely the students.
Also, as far as this is concerned:
“The university undertakes initiatives to raise awareness, which include offering educational programs at the start of each academic year, training for residence hall staff, and distributing posters around campus.”

We were told to be careful around the fire alarms but definitely not warned that the alarms go off due to aerosol deodorant (??) And why not nip the problem in the bud by doing something about the alarms rather than fining the students?

And another thing! My flatmate had a small cooking fire the other night (he just left the pan on the stove with some oil in it a second too long–he was in the kitchen the whole time, just had his back turned..) anyway he managed to put it out but the fire alarm failed to go off in THAT instance.. so what good are these things if all they’re doing is crying wolf?

Thanks for writing this article. These fire alarms are ridiculous!

And my reply

Paul Field

Wed 16 Dec 2009
I have been in the fire industry for over 20 years and in my experience this issue reoccurs in most student accommodation blocks, however if the system had been designed correctly in the first place virtually all of the false alarms can be managed out.
There are fire systems on the market that intelligently manage alarm conditions by comparing the heat and smoke within a room to confirm that there really is a fire, however these detectors cost about 50% more than the basic types which is one reason that they are not widely used, the other reason is ignorance on the part of the designer to the existence or application of these or even the standard types.

Its not always the fire alarm systems fault, contributing factors can be poor ventilation from cooking areas or the wrong choice of detector type by the designer. (making the system appear to be sensitive)

With some concerted effort on the part of the facilities maintenance team in conjunction with a decent fire alarm company the above situation can be changed. There are simple things that could be done immediately such as moving detectors away from the potential source of false alarms, local hush buttons can be installed, or even delays on single activations and if justified, changing smoke detection to heat detection.

If students are setting their own system off there is not much that can be done about that other than education or the installation of CCTV followed by fines etc.
I can understand the frustration in Madeleines comments, but for example if they had changed the detector to heat due to false alarms from dust or other contaminants in her flat then it would not respond to smoke from the cooking.
Of course every system has to be evaluated on its own merits but in my experience there are always solutions to these problems.

If you contact your Local BAFE registered company they should be able to help (BAFE is a third party approval scheme which is a bit like the Gas Safe Register (used to be CORGI)) www.bafe.org.uk or take a look on our website www.w-fp.co.uk

Paul Field