Talked to a firefighter last week about alarm response times and it shook me up

I was at a supply house in Nashville picking up some panels and got to talking with a guy who works for the local fire department. He told me that most residential alarm systems have a delay of 4 to 6 minutes before dispatch even gets notified. That's because of the verification calls the monitoring stations make. He said by the time they roll a truck, a small kitchen fire is already through the drywall in a modern wood frame house. I never really gave it much thought because I just install what the specs say. But hearing him describe how many calls they treat as false alarms until it's too late made me rethink how I wire up zones. I've already started putting combined heat and smoke detectors in every bedroom on my own jobs. Has anyone else had a firefighter or dispatcher give you feedback that changed how you do things?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesse_smith1013d ago

is it really that bad or was he just venting

fisher.jessica13d ago

@jesse_smith10 I think he was being honest because my buddy's cousin works dispatch in Chattanooga and she said they get flagged if they don't do the full 4 minute verification loop, even on obvious fires. That policy disconnect (between monitoring contracts and real-world emergencies) is what actually costs time, not the alarm hardware itself.