Fire alarm technician is a job, not a religion.
I’ve just completed my 30th year as a licensed fire alarm tech in Minnesota and feel I have some insight I’d like to share and something to get off my chest that’s bugging the shit out of me.
The occupation of fire alarm tech is NOT a calling or a religion, it’s an opportunity to earn a good living within an industry that generates billions. Like most industries our financial success is predicated on using our expertise in satisfying code compliance in a manner that costs building owners the least amount of money. The codes engineers use to design systems were not written on stone tablets next to a burning bush, they were agreed to at a table full of very fat cats from companies with names like Honeywell and Siemens.
Many of these codes have changed in my 30 years under the guise of “life safety”, here are the most impactful.
Cabling... 30 years ago we ty-wrapped cables directly to the ceiling grid wires. Code change required the cables are now supported independently. Big winner was fastening hardware industry. We rationalize this change as an improvement in “life safety “.
ADA... Americans with disabilities act required strobe lights like crazy under the guise of improved life safety for people who are deaf. This one I’m willing to meet in the middle and say it probably did (but, I’ll offer a million dollars to anyone who can provide data on death or injury to deaf people as a result of fire prior to and after this change). The big winner was of course our industry, NAC power expander and strobe light sales created additional billions in profits.
Elimination of smoke detectors and pull stations... code changes now require smoke detectors in extremely limited area (elevators and door holders basically) provided the building is properly sprinkled. In fact two jurisdictions in my area now require all smoke detectors be programmed as supervisory. This change more than any illustrates the arbitrary nature of the purpose of a fire alarm system.
Duct smoke detectors.... all over the map, from year to year they’re alarm, supervisory, installed by HVAC company, installed by fire alarm crew, stand alone, installed in ducts that penetrate 2 hour fire walls, one hour, not installed, supply duct only, return duct only etc etc etc. I inspect buildings with 300 duct detectors and buildings with 6 (the same size buildings). You tell me on this one (and I’m sure somebody is gonna chime in with absolute certainty).
Speakers... (don’t worry, this is the last one). New voice clarity requirements require (surprise, surprise, surprise) about three times as many speakers than before. Once again another big win for the good guys, the once again it’s “life safety”.
I’m not going to even get into survivability or various pressurization changes.
Get a good night sleep, get up and go to work tomorrow and do your best. Make sure your circuits are supervised properly, your outputs turn on when they should and your detection works. At the end of the week make sure your paycheck is in your hand (because that my friends is what we do this for).