Private alarms

[bittenyakka]

And it comes up as Respond Private alarm and yes it has been a real job once (before i joined)

If it's the incident I'm thinking of, with the fire in the ceiling of the Bunkhouse the fire was called in rather than an alarm as it was above the smoke detectors.  Or was there another.
For any future disturbance esp. during the night I apologise, whilst employed there I worked hard to get a monitored system installed.

Yeah it was that one I got told it was an alarm but oh well.

[Cameron Yelland]

Is it not better to send a car that is only 2 minutes away to investigate while the next closest brigade is on the way and stop call that brigade and reduce the time they spend on a fixed alarm?

I disagree.  I would rather see one person turn up in a fire truck to investigate an alarm than a car. with approapriate backup on the way of course.

I say this because although you still only have 1 crew member, (disappointing really but unfortunately it happens) that person can still set up hoses etc if there does happen to be a fire.  At the very least they can provide water if there isnt a sufficient supply at the alarm.  Also the backup once they arrive can utilise equipment off of the first arriving truck such as branches, hose, BA etc.

[Alan (Big Al)]

I understand what your saying, you would have known it must have been something as soon as you saw the 'Private Alarm' thing, if it isn't a recurring alarm then its probably the real deal.

about 40-50% of our yearly alarms down here are one's we've never been called to and probably won't again. And that would be the same for a lot of brigades.

[SA Firey]

What do you think SAAS does?? sending a 1st response paramedic while the ambulance comes from further away is not abnormal practice - especially with the advent of SPRINT cars this is going to become the norm!!(Quote)

Thats fine boredmatrix, at least they have gear in them to start treatment whereas a Group Car responding doesnt have firefighting capabilities
SOP 4.5.relates to procedures responding to Automatic/Monitored Fire Alarms.

All responses are also based on responding in a minimum 24 appliance with a minimum of 4 CREW

Further to that an AFA should be a two brigade response at a minimum, and if  a brigade is unable to respond they must default to the next brigade not a group car

[OMGWTF]

11:59:07 14-04-08 MBKR: CFSRES: MT BARKER CENTRAL ALARM ACTIVATED RESPOND MT BARKER STN
 12:01:20 14-04-08 MFS: *CFSRES INC018 14/04/08 12:00,RESPOND COMMERCIAL FIRE,! B/ 13 MACLAREN ST,MT BARKER MAP 172 M 6 TG128,FAT FIRE IN SHOP ADJACENT BI LO,MBKR19 LTHT00

By crikey...... these fire alarms are a useless annoyance.

[Pipster]

That's true SAFirey, but in this case, it would appear that the command car went, AND the next nearest brigade was also called - I can't see a problem with that part of it.

Perhaps the issue is that only one brigade was sent to the alarm, not two, which perhaps should have occurred....

Pip

[SA Firey]

11:59:07 14-04-08 MBKR: CFSRES: MT BARKER CENTRAL ALARM ACTIVATED RESPOND MT BARKER STN
 12:01:20 14-04-08 MFS: *CFSRES INC018 14/04/08 12:00,RESPOND COMMERCIAL FIRE,! B/ 13 MACLAREN ST,MT BARKER MAP 172 M 6 TG128,FAT FIRE IN SHOP ADJACENT BI LO,MBKR19 LTHT00

By crikey...... these fire alarms are a useless annoyance.

A classic example of them not all being FALSE eh

[CFS_Firey]

A classic example of them not all being FALSE eh

Also a classic example of someone ringing 000, and the fire service being responded anyway

[SA Firey]

A classic example of them not all being FALSE eh

Also a classic example of someone ringing 000, and the fire service being responded anyway

Agree

[Comms]

CFS Firey, there have been many cases where a fixed alarm has operated, no 000 calls received, and a small fire extinguished before doing significant damage. These jobs of course don't make the news so they go mostly unnoticed.

Of course 99% are false alarms but you can't always rely on 000.

[OMGWTF]

A classic example of them not all being FALSE eh

Also a classic example of someone ringing 000, and the fire service being responded anyway

Except for the fact that barker had a two minute jump on it... im sure most people on here realise that 2 minutes can make a major differance.

Personally ive been to countless false alarms... ive also been to several AFAs that were going fires. The falsies are annoying, but its part of the job, get over it or get out.

Dont forget there are ways of dealing with alarms that are constantly malfunctioning... I think youll find though that most activate for a reason.

[Red Message]

I still fail to see the issue here. As long as the appropriate number of appliances were turned out to the job, I don't see any issue with the command car responding.

Multiple alarm activations over a small time period need to be handled by the OIC attending. If people are working  (sanding/cleaning etc) in the zone, perhaps its best to isolate it until such work is finished, if there is an obvious malfunction, perhaps then it too needs to be isolated until a servicing company can be called to fix the issue. There are many things that the attending brigades can do to stop the multiple activations in a day.

Its good of Barker to provide a great example for us right now, that not ALL AFA's are false. 

[SA Firey]

MFS: *CFSRES INC018 16/04/08 09:56,RESPOND COMMERCIAL FIRE,RUNDLE MALL,ADELAIDE MAP B F 5 TG182,ENTER VIA TWIN STREET - OVEN FIRE,AD2015 41 ADL203 ADL204 ADL202 MFS Car 41

Another example this job appliances were already enroute BEFORE the fire alarm at City Cross activated Another fat fire

[Evac]

Thats fine boredmatrix, at least they have gear in them to start treatment whereas a Group Car responding doesnt have firefighting capabilities
SOP 4.5.relates to procedures responding to Automatic/Monitored Fire Alarms.

All responses are also based on responding in a minimum 24 appliance with a minimum of 4 CREW

Further to that an AFA should be a two brigade response at a minimum, and if  a brigade is unable to respond they must default to the next brigade not a group car

Firstly SOP's are a guide only - Not the law or a COSO. Secondly there is nothing to State that all AFA's should be a two brigade response, further more if there is no pre determined response for a premises with AFA systems then 1 truck would be suficient. SOP 2.1 states recomendednot "It Shall be".

One could also argue that the "Closest most appropriate resource" was a command car that could get there 2 or 3 minutes (or more) ahead of a truck to make assessment on the need to upgrade or not?