Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Fire Alarm Requirements for Licensed R-2.1 Occupancy

Group R-2.1 “Licensed”: (Residential)

Systems required to be monitored per the 2021 IFC section 907.6.6.

If the “Licensed” R-2.1 facility houses more than six non-ambulatory, elderly clients shall be equipped with a manual and automatic fire alarm system.

Manual Fire Alarm Box Requirements:

Manual fire alarm boxes at all exits.

Travel distance to any manual fire alarm box cannot exceed 200 feet.

UL 268 Automatic Smoke Detection Requirements:

Smoke and/or heat detectors installed throughout

If ALL of the following conditions exist then the facility can be provided with the same requirements of a Group R-2 facility.

The facility is equipped with an approved automatic sprinkler system that activates the occupant notification system.

A manual fire alarm system.

Single or multiple station smoke alarms installed inside each sleeping unit as well as outside each sleeping unit within immediate vicinity of the bedrooms.

Fire Alarm Notification Requirements:

520 Hz low frequency sounders shall be installed in all sleeping areas. Horns can be provided in common areas including but not limited to corridors, public restrooms, elevator lobbies, etc. Emergency voice/alarm communications systems shall be provided for high rise applications. High rise buildings are classified by the International Building Code as a structure that has occupied floors located more than 75 feet above the lowest level of fire department vehicle access.

Note: “Licensed” R-2.1 occupancies are required to be pre-wired for future adaptability. This means you need to install either a conduit raceway or the necessary cable for the possibility that any room may convert to an accessible unit in the future.

Using a sound pressure meter or dB Meter, verify you comply with the following:

Public Mode Audibility: You must have 15 dB above average ambient sound level or 5 dB above the maximum sound level for at least 60 seconds whichever is greater.

Private Mode Audibility: You must have 10 dB above average ambient sound level or 5 dB above the maximum sound level for at least 60 seconds whichever is greater.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

New UL Smoke Alarm Requirements in California

I just attended the monthly CAFAA (California Automatic Fire Alarm Association) meeting and was surprised to find out the new requirements set forth by UL for single and multi-station smoke alarms. Now these are just for the smoke alarms in household applications. Not to be confused with system smoke detectors (tied to a building fire alarm system). The State of California has let a crazy requirement slip through and become adopted for these stand alone household smoke alarms to take effect January 1, 2014. Get this, the smoke alarms are now required to have the following:

If the stand alone single station or multi-station smoke alarm is battery operated, the battery has to be sealed in the detector, non-removable, and have a lifetime of 10 years.
The smoke alarm has to be monitored for end of life
The smoke alarm has to have the manufacture date and installation date clearly visible
The smoke alarm must have a Hush feature

Now some manufactures have smoke alarms out there that have some of these features including the Hush feature, 10 year battery and manufacture/installation dates. Now the tricky one is the monitoring for "End of Life". The California State Fire Marshall's (CSFM) office reads this as the necessity to provide smoke detectors tied to a building fire alarm system as they can be monitored for dirty sensing elements. I read it differently. Manufacturers such as Kidde have detectors with a 10 year battery life. With that said, the detector will chirp when the battery is at a low level indicating in my mind, "End of Life". If the detector starts to chirp, it is notifying you that the battery is near dead resulting in the "End of Life" for the smoke alarm detector.

The CSFM has also stated that these requirements are not going to be in affect for wireless battery operated smoke alarms as they report back to a fire alarm system.

Any thoughts on this?