We had a smoke detector false alarm due to steam from a shower. I called the monitoring company right away and they attempted to cancel but the fire department showed up regardless.
Is there any way change the alarm behavior for a smoke/life safety sensor? I’m considering removing the smoke detector (keeping the 6 wired detectors not connected to the alarm of course) if the fire department is going to show up every time someone takes a long shower or burns toast.
Also, when they arrived, they mentioned the monitoring company does not have the authority to cancel this type of notification (similar to a duress burglar alarm). In my case, they were not aware of the monitoring company attempted to contact them in an attempt to cancel.
The monitoring center is suppose to attempt to contact you by 2 way voice I believe I have my account set up to try 2 way voice as well as contact 1 number
By default, there are two methods of contact which always occur prior to fire dispatch: 2-Way Voice (if enabled) and the location number.
You can view the call order and when dispatch will occur in your Surety System Manager. There you can also enable 2-Way Voice if available, and adjust your contact numbers.
By special request we can also have additional contacts dialed prior to fire dispatch. Send us a private message here or through your System Manager to request a cell contact be dialed before fire dispatch if desired.
Many fire departments do not allow fire reports to be cancelled, due to the potential impact of ignoring a fire. Others allow alarm reports to be cancelled, but whether they allow it is dependent on your responding authority.
I did not receive a call from the monitoring center prior to fire department dispatch, and not did the secondary phone number.
I called the monitoring company within a few minutes of the alarm sounding and they told me they had already reported the alarm to the fire company. You are correct about cancelling— our local fire department does not allow cancellation of alarm calls.
I will double check my system manager. Are there different call specifications for burglar vs fire alarms?
So it appears the contact process was not followed here. Do you see a record of the monitoring company attempting to call me prior to fire department dispatch?
Yes, there are different dispatch procedures for fire and police.
In your system manager you can view when both fire dispatch and police dispatch would occur.
Police dispatch can be adjusted, but by default Fire cannot.
It doesn’t look like a location number existed on the account at that time. Only 2-way voice and a location number (a premise number, not a cell contact) would be contacted prior by default.
You can view a list of default dispatch procedures here.