In the 30 -35 years following 1960 about 93% of American households had their homes protected by installing fire alarms. This was not limited to any one form but apartments, single or family homes and dormitories all got their homes installed with some kind of alarms as required by the law which was made mandatory in 1980s.
How Will Fire Alarms Help
Alarm goes off hooting and alerting you in the event of fire breakout. Very sensitive, as they are, fire alarms alert you early facilitating escape with your kin and kith to safety. It protects loss of lives and property. It has been the single most important savior of lives and properties from fire hazards over years, according to a survey; no doubts about that.
It is fine, but how will it alert the hearing impaired persons who can’t hear the hooter going off? The Federal law, popularly known as Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 makes it mandatory for manufacturers of fire alarms to include strobe lights in addition to audible alarms.
Audible Alarms
Often fire fighters complain of hearing problems early in their lives. And they are not unjustified with this especially when fire alarms making loud sounds in the range of 90 – 100 decibels. The hooter or horn is designed to produce a variety of sounds depending on the distinct purposes. For example, ‘code 3 temporal pattern’ is used only when evacuation is necessary; and thus the alarm pulses too, vary in times. Other patterns include continuous tone, march time etc.
Fire alarms get triggered by sensors which detect either heat or smoke or both in fractions of a second. You can imagine the efficiency of the systems which detect the cause of fire (heat or smoke) first and trigger the hooter to go and still giving the residents enough time to escape.
Buying Fire Alarms
While buying fire alarms you may want to consider a few points. Generally, in public places where large number of people work together, ‘code 3 temporal pattern’ suits better which can well be heard over the rolling noise generated by the crowd, and for a home purpose a continuous tone type would suffice. Buy fire UL listed alarms. In case of confusion, don’t hesitate to consult the fire department. Occasionally, fire departments offer alarms at discounts too.
Offensive fire alarm pranks in hostels or dormitories, when students pull alarms are not viewed lightly in America. Students and pranksters must understand that it wastes the precious time of fire departments and needs evacuation of entire buildings at times.
Get tips on installation and mock drills from fire department.