Fire alarm systems in apartment buildings

We are in the middle of the winter season in recent weeks there has been a many reports of large apartment fires. The fire alarm system in an apartment especially in a large apartment complex will be the first warning system you will get when you are in your apartment. I wanted to highlight few facts about fire alarm systems in large apartment buildings. My hope is this information will be helpful in the event you have to leave your apartment complex due to fire or another emergency situation.

While home in your apartment   take note of where the fire alarm boxes are on the wall. They are sometimes referred to as “pull stations”.  The purpose of the fire alarm box is to evacuate the building when a fire or smoke is discovered. The fire alarm box is normally found within five feet of an exit door. So if you should discover a fire or smoke condition in your building you must leave the area immediately and pull the fire alarm box on your way out this will activate the alarm. The alarm activation will alert all persons in the apartment complex to evacuate the building.

The other device is the smoke alarm which will be located in key areas of the building normally in an area where a smoke condition could exists such as a kitchen or a machine room. When the smoke alarm is activated the smoke alarm will sound a fire alarm tone or a horn. You should know what this alarm sounds like so when you hear this alarm you know to leave the building immediately. You should use fire stairwells when leaving as the elevators will shut down when a fire alarm is in activation. Whenever you hear the fire alarm never assume it is a false alarm always assume that it is real and leave the area for your own safety.

Lastly you must know the location of all your fire exits in your apartment complex or at least on your floor. This way in case your primary fire exit is blocked by fire or smoke you can use another exit to get out of your building. If you are unable to leave because of fire or smoke stay in your apartment keep the door closed. You want to keep the smoke out so you must cover all cracks around the door.  Contact 911 let them know you are trapped in the apartment. You can use a flash light or a bright covered cloth to wave outside the window to better allow the fire department find you. Hopefully you are able to get out safely so you should know where the gathering point is at your building so you could be accounted for in the event of a real fire.

I hope this post was helpful please leave a comment

Mark Carvajal