Dalmatian Fire & Safety

Did you know that house fires kill and injure a significant number of people every year? Annually, around 4,000 Americans die in residential fires, while another 30,000 are seriously injured. Sadly, these statistics would have been much lower had more smoke detectors been installed.

The benefits of fire alarms and sprinkler systems are so clear the federal government has laws in place that require federal workers who are traveling on business to only stay in hotels and motels with smoke detectors and automatic sprinkler systems.

You may be familiar with the saying “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” While this may be true, the reverse is not always the case. Many times, fires erupt without any smoke to warn you, and they spread rapidly.

The two main types of smoke alarms are ionization and photoelectric. A photoelectric system includes a sensor that can detect smoke particles suspended in the air, which occurs in the early stages of a fire.

While you may opt to install smoke alarms in the house you're having built, it's important to remember that these alarms will need periodic maintenance if they're to continue functioning. Left unattended, the batteries in these devices will run out, leaving you unprotected.

Did you know that it took the smoke alarm decades to reach the market? Having been invented in 1902 by George Andrew Darby, it took other inventors almost eight decades to come up with an affordable, feasible and practical design that people would be willing to invest in.

Did you know that most residential fire fatalities happen at night? Of course, this comes as no surprise because most people are asleep at this time and thus cannot react quickly enough. Sadly, however, such deaths are needless as reliable fire alarm systems can provide the time needed to escape.

If you're building a new home, it would be wise to think ahead and put fire safety devices in place. Aside from easily accessible fire exits, a fire alarm system should be seriously considered because it buys the occupants the time they need to evacuate.

In commercial structures (and larger residential buildings as well), fire alarm systems are installed and configured using a Fire Alarm Control Panel, or FACP. Considered the brains of the system, it calculates incoming data to determine the location of the problem, sound an alarm, and activate any other safety measures that are a part of the system.

According to the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), 19 of the 33 states with licensing requirements, monitor security alarm installers, with 22 of those states specifically regulating those who install fire alarms.

As microprocessors developed in the 1980s, addressable fire alarm systems were introduced. The fire alarm systems do much more than simply set off the alarm. They can locate the fire, activate fire suppressor systems, notify responders, and more, and all automatically.

The most common kind of heat detector is a fixed temperature detector that goes off at a certain temperature. The other kind, rate of rise detectors, are set off if the temperature rises quickly within a given time period, usually a minute.