Fire Alarm Stories

[DFW333]

Sorry if this has been discussed already, but I was wonderin if anyone had any bad experiences with fire alarms and/or the monitoring company?

What got me curious about this is this evening the FD got sent on a auto fire alarm at the Red Roof Inn. Single engine responded code 3 as is dept policy for fire alarms and arrived to find heavy smoke showing from the NE corner on the 2nd floor of the building. The captain transmitted the box which brought 2 more engines, a truck and the Battalion chief. Now here's where it gets interesting (keep in mind nice room & contents fire on 2nd floor)...


"Carrollton to everyone responding, be advised E-115 was sent on a fire alarm and had heavy smoke showing on arrival. Also be advised we just received a call back from the alarm company stating there is no problem at the location and FD is not needed."

So anyway, just wonderin what else other people have seen/heard of an alarm company doing that was wierd.

[nmfire]

It is more likely that the manager of the hotel called the alarm company and told them that because he didn't know his hotel was on fire. The alarm company is only relaying messages from the person they talk to on the phone. They aren't psychic (although some seem psycho) and have no crystal ball to see what is happening.

Some alarm companies are slow when it comes to notification and call-backs. Some area very on the ball. But the information they give you is only as good as it is given to them. It isn't necessarily the monitoring company that installed and/or services the alarm either.

On a related note. We had a structure fire once a few years ago involving a large detached building containing a garage, pool equipment, and a rec room (it was the size of a small house). It was totally gutted, surround and drown. Whil we were mopping up after the fire was out, the alarm company called in the smoke detector activation.

[RFDACM02]

For the exact reason you detail above our dept. has always responded to all alarms regardless of phone-in information. Other FD's around us will cancel upon any info stating the call is false or all set. We have had calls stating there is no fire but they know nothing is wrong or alarm companies that call the business first and if the RP says not to send the FD they will not. This often results in our being sent to reset their alarm for them. I also like the employee who silences the alarm after seeing that there was no smoke present but not knowing they have heat detectors not smokes.

[DFW333]

You're right about the information the company gets, but there's plenty of examples of them being false or called in late. A better "horror story" took place a few years ago. Carrollton had another fire alarm at a daycare in the 1100 block of MacArthur Drive. Back then the SOP for fire alarms was 2 engines, 1st due runs hot 2nd due was usually just sent on a leisurely round trip.

2100 or so a call comes in for the fire alarm. Engine 116 is first up with Engine 112 responding cold. 116 pulls up, "Nothing showing, light smell of smoke possibly from fireplaces in area. Engine 112 you can disregard."

Well, as luck would have it, 112 had already made it to the cross street and the shortest route back to the house required driving by the building. I'll never forget when Engine 112 transmitted that box. They came around the corner and had heavy smoke pouring out the charlie side of the building.

No one on engine 116 crew, some on for more than 20 years had EVER been to a fire alarm that was real. 20 years of false fire alarms before getting the real one. The only piece of equipment any of 116 was wearing were their bunker coats due to the cold weather.

Almost as if to serve as direct comparison Engine 112 showed up damn near ready to make entry into hell itself. Stretched a 2 1/2 inch line and attempted to make an interior attack. Inside they found only a slight haze due to most of the smoke exiting out the hole in the rear of the building. By the time Engine 116 had set up the water supply and got bunked out E-112 had exited the building and made it a defensive fire due to free burning in the attic on a truss roof.

Just imagine had 112 not come around the corner and seen that smoke. It woulda been just another go in, push the reset button and go home run for 116. Can you imagine going into a building with a free burning attic fire wearing only a bunker coat like 116 would have done if Engine 112 hadnt rounded that corner?

[nmfire]

Over the summer sometime, we were dispatched to the proverbial "concerned citizen reporting an outside odor of smoke". Typical and historically ends up being unfounded every single time. I was at the station so I hopped in the engine and went, rescue was right behind me. I was going down the road thinking "why do I even have the siren on for this diesel fuel wasting BS call." Imagine my surprise when rounded the curve and there was smoke rolling into the street and the whole house was enveloped in smoke. "Oh $h!t!!"

A quick check of the property revealed no outside source of the smoke. More apparatus were arriving so we decided to force entry since something had to be wrong inside. Of course, there wasn't a hint of smoke or trouble inside the house. I broke 3 doors to get in this house and there was NOTHING. The smoke dissipated on it's own and the source was never found. That was frustrating but the homeowner took it well when they got home from vacation.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

Fire alarm toned us out for a report of from ADT about a carbon monoxide detector activation at ### Woodland Drive.

We got in the rig and while en route, Fire Alarm reported that ADT just called back and reported both CO and a fire alarm actrvation from the address.

I didn't strike the box, but filled out the assignment as a precaution.

We arrived on Woodland Drive and found no residence with that address.

I requested Fire Alarm to call ADT back and verify the address...

Fire alarm radioed back that ADT had the wrong comunity.. it was ### Woodland Drive in Marshfield, not Marlborough or something to that effect...

Nice.... at least they got the first 3 letters of the town name correct...

[fireman4949]

I've been to quite a few alarms that have turned out to be actual fires, but there are a few that stick out in my mind as memorable.

We were dispatched to an automatic alarm at a grocery store just about 1000 feet from the station, during regular business hours. My FF was young and had only been on the dept for a year, or two. As we got on the engine, he asked if I wanted him in full gear. I told him yes! Always! (it's our policy for the first due to wear full PPE on any auto-alarm).

As I walked in the front door of the store, I asked an employee what the panel indicated. They stated it was first a smoke detector, then a water flow alarm a minute later. My ears perked up, and I asked where the manager was. I was told he was in the meat dept. investigating the alarm. The alarm had already been silenced by the employees prior to our arrival, and customers were still shopping, totally oblivious to the alarm.

As I made my way to the back of the store, the manager met me and said that a pull station had been hit with a shopping cart, and that everything was okay. I told him we needed to find the fire. He looked rather stunned, and again said everything was okay.
I walked into the back hall where the break and training rooms were...Manager on my heels. As I opened the door to the training room, thick, black smoke billowed out. The manager absolutely freaked!

The sprinkler system did its job, and we extinguished what little fire was left with a water can.
As it turned out, a 16 year old kid had just been fired, set the training room ablaze and was waiting for the manager in the front of the store with a 16" butcher knife hidden under his shirt.

Needless to say, the manager got one hell of a lecture from me, and I think he actually learned a valuable lesson, or two.

The little arsonist/wanna-be slasher was carted off to jail.




I remember going on a residential smoke detector alarm at about 0230 one morning. While en-route, dispatch stated the resident could smell smoke, but couldn't find the source.
Just before we arrived, dispatch stated the resident located the source...The neighbors house across the street was kickin' !




It's that one in a hundred alarms that turns out to be real that keeps you on your toes. You just never know what you might find when you get there.




Kevin

[spegram]

During the first 15 years of my career I never went to a fire alarm that was a working fire, however in the past 5 years I have been to a bunch.

2 Warehouse fires, both came in as water flow alarms, on one companies arrived with nothing showing and only upon entering the building with the keys from the Knox box located a working fire, the other fire had smoke showing on arrival.

3 residential fires, the weirdest part was all three were daytime when people were around and we received no additional calls or information that it was a working fire.

Luckily we respond to a fire alarm almost as if it was a structure fire. First due runs emergency, all others run non-emergency, RIT and Medic are only dispatched on reported fires. In each of the above situations we were able to arrive and go to work without having to wait to dispatch additional companies.

[MarcusKspn]

99.9% of our Automatic Alarms are false, which I think is the norm for most of them. I do like the way dispatch handles the calls.

Initial Dispatch "Engine 1 respond to an automatic alarm at 123 anystreet."

Usual Follow Up "Engine 1, the Alarm Company advises that the home/business owner states it is a False Alarm, check to your own satisfaction"

Good for the Alarm Companies and owners in the Post above.

[FlyingRon]

Silent Alarm?

We rolled up at a small building to check an automatic alarm report. We called back to report that the alarm at the building appears not to be sounding. There was a pause while dispatch checked with the alarm company and then they came back and suggested that maybe it was a "silent alarm."

Oh yeah, we wouldn't want the building occupants to know they were on fire.

[spegram]

What/when do your consider a fire alarm a false alarm? What I mean is I thin k we play up the false alarm statistics. If a smoke alarm goes off due to burnt toast the fire alarm worked correctly but I hear and have seen allot of departments call this a false alarm?

[spegram]

What/when do your consider a fire alarm a false alarm? What I mean is I think we play up the false alarm statistics. If a smoke alarm goes off due to burnt toast the fire alarm worked correctly but I hear and have seen allot of departments call this a false alarm?

[Eng34FF]

spegram: we consider a it a false alarm if we can find on reason for the alarm to sound. Burnt toast or the like we file as food on the stove.

We had a residential fire alarm a couple of years ago. When we got there, the sheriff had also been dispatched for a burglar alarm sounding. The homeowner said he did not have an alarm service. When we checked it out, the old alarm had been disconnected (we physically saw that there was no phone line attached). When we contacted the alarm company, they insisted that there was an alarm at that address and had no answer when we told them the alarm had been disconnected.

[FFFRED]

What/when do your consider a fire alarm a false alarm? What I mean is I think we play up the false alarm statistics. If a smoke alarm goes off due to burnt toast the fire alarm worked correctly but I hear and have seen allot of departments call this a false alarm?

The only alarm we consider "false" is a 10-92, an MFA aka Malicious false alarm, as in a kid pulls a box and runs away.

Basicly everything else falls into some other category...for example...

10-26 Food on stove
10-31 Clogged incinerator
10-32 Defective oil burner
10-33 Odor of smoke

• CODE 1 - Caused by nearby working fire, BBQ's, salamanders, Etc.
• CODE 2 - Any other type odor

10-34 Sprinkler system emergency

• CODE 1 - Defective equipment
• CODE 2 - Unnecessary alarm
• CODE 3 - Non fire activated

10-35 Alarm system emergency

• CODE 1 - Defective alarm
• CODE 2 - Unnecessary alarm
• CODE 3 - Recorded alarm

false alarms for us are way down.

FTM-PTB

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

What/when do your consider a fire alarm a false alarm? What I mean is I thin k we play up the false alarm statistics. If a smoke alarm goes off due to burnt toast the fire alarm worked correctly but I hear and have seen allot of departments call this a false alarm?

If the fire alarm worked correctly, as in burnt toast tripped the system, it is coded an an unintentional alarm tripped by cooking, investigation only.

If the alarm goes off an nothing is found.. it's coded as a system malfunction, investigation only.

No fire... it's a false alarm.