Fire detection and alarm systems are designed to discover fires early in their development when time will still be available for the safe evacuation of occupants. Early detection also plays a significant role in protecting the safety of emergency response personnel. Property loss can be reduced and downtime for the operation minimized through early detection because control efforts are started while the fire is still small. Most alarm systems provide information to emergency responders on the location of the fire, speeding the process of fire control.

To be useful, detectors must be coupled with alarms. Alarm systems provide notice to at least the building occupants and usually transmit a signal to a staffed monitoring station either on or off site. In some cases, alarms may go directly to the fire department, although in most locations this is no longer the typical approach.

The “Brain” of the fire detector system is the Fire Alarm Control Panel. It is the central hub for all of the detector signals to be wired to and provides a status indication to the users. The unit can also be set up to simulate an alarm for use in routine Fire and evacuation drills, so all staff knows what action to take in the event of a real fire.

At the core of a fire alarm system are the detection devices, from sophisticated intelligent smoke detectors to simple manually operated break glass units, there are a wide array of different types, but we can divide them into groups including: