Zone One Fire Protection

NFPA Research and Reports

Three out of five home fire deaths resulted from fires in properties with no or no working smoke alarms. In 2009-2013, smoke alarms, including those in fires too small to activate them, operating smoke alarms, and those that failed to operate, were present in almost three-quarters (73%) of reported home fires and sounded in more than half (53%) of the home fires reported to U.S. fire departments.

Almost two out of five (38%) home fire deaths resulted from fires in which no smoke alarms were present at all.

One of every five (21%) deaths was caused by fires in properties in which smoke alarms were present but failed to operate. Smoke alarms operated in fires that caused two out of five (40%) home fire deaths.

One percent of the deaths resulted from fires that were too small to activate the smoke alarm.
When smoke alarms were present in fires considered large enough to activate them, they operated 87% of the time.

Why Reduce False Alarms?

False Alarms have a big impact on Fire Departments and the community.

1. Increased Risk of Accident and Injury

Emergencies under “lights and sirens”, including calls that are found to be false alarms. Unwanted and unnecessary calls increase the risk of accident and injury to fire fighters and the general public.

2. Public Safety

•Delayed response - Vehicles and personnel that are deployed to a false alarm are out of action. If a real emergency occurs at the same time, appliances will have to travel further reducing the response time
•Complacency - Many false alarms can cause complacency, which can have grave consequences to the community
•Tampering – Never attempt to tamper with your alarm system or with the signal sent to the fire services. This is a serious breach of public safety and has legal consequences. In addition a false alarm may incur a substantial charge.
•Congestion to 911 – Unnecessary calls impact the efficiency of emergency call takers by delaying the receiving of genuine emergency calls.

3. Waste of Business resources – time and money

•Fire Service Charges – False Alarm charges can be substantial when there is no reasonable excuse
•Disruption to business activities – Evacuations cause unproductive downtime to a business
•Maintenance time and money – inefficient fire alarm systems can result in additional maintenance work and charges

4. Waste of Brigade resources

•Volunteer fatigue – For fire fighting personnel that are volunteers, who attend calls in their own personal time or during their working day, often detracting from time with their families and friends, at ‘inconvenient’ times (i.e. late at night), and taking them away from their place of employment. Unwanted false alarms place an additional strain on volunteers
•Resources – Time spent at false alarms is less time and resources can devote towards fundraising, community work, fire prevention, and other proactive practices.

Working smoke alarms save family from fire!

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A South Bend family is without a place to call their own after a fire broke out in their home.

It happened around 11:30p.m. Tuesday night on the 58000 block of Pam Street right off Crumstown Highway.

The home is owned by a couple with a small child and dog. They escaped from the burning house unharmed thanks to their working smoke detectors.

Warren Fire Department received the call, but they got assistance from New Carlisle, North Liberty, Clay and South Bend Fire Departments.

Crews say the fire began on the lower level and quickly spread throughout the home. They faced adversity when the floor began to collapse underneath them while they were fighting the fire inside the house. It forced crews to evacuate the home and try to extinguish the flames from outside the house.

Firefighters say the house isn't a total loss, although about 75% of the structure will need repairing after sustaining excessive smoke and water damage as well as the collapsed floor.

Zone One Fire Protection Services has a primary focus and interest in our local business and residential properties. This approach affords us to offer outstanding response times, constant customer communication to keep you up to date of our service to your property. Our goal is to repair, maintain and keep your current Fire Alarm System up and running, not to attempt to sell you a new system or a ton of upgrades, although we are more than capable of providing those services to you, we know as you run your business the effort of keeping overall cost to a minimum is paramount to maximize your profits. During our superior FREE Life Safety System Evaluation, we will give you an honest assessment of your current system and its ability to continue to protect your buildings occupants and the structure as well.

Call Today!! 410-660-6316



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Baltimore - Washington, DC

www.ZoneOneFire.com