Howdy, all. In short, I’d like to know why there’s not an ‘All Clear’ signal for commercial/commercial residential buildings (at least) in the US.
The alarm goes off, everyone evacuates (hoping they don’t think it’s a false alarm), and then people wait, fire/PD show up, inspect the building, and then the alarm goes off.
I had this happen just last night where the whole buildings alarm went off, fire/PD came and 15 mins later the alarm went off until I realized the flashing lights were still activated, but not the sound (they just muted the alarm).
According to an email sent out by management, they said there was an issue with the sprinkler system and that the alarm system contractor would be out the following business day (alarm turned on at 22:21 and was muted at 22:52 with the email going out about 12:30).
This had me wondering why a manual ‘all clear’ code isn’t used or is the all clear the alarm being muted/turned off.
I will add that having this would be helpful as if the power went out or the alarm panel had a fire in the room or failed, then the alarm would go off. I know, slim chances, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned doing EMS, it’s that if it can happen, it will.
Note: I’m not fully educated on how the alarm systems work but I have a higher than average understanding.
Note 2: The alarm system contractor inspected everything less than a month ago including fire extinguishers and sprinklers.
Thanks!