Fire Alarm Zones In Milton Keynes – How Are They Planned?
Fire alarm zoning allows the person responding to an alert to very quickly establish where a fire has occurred. It is therefore very important to have a responsible person to have a good grasp of the fundamental principles behind their building’s fire alarm zoning.
What a Zone Actually Is
A Zone on the alarm panel can help identify the area of a fire quickly, to allow the fire fighter or premises staff to investigate/attack the fire as soon as possible. It is very important to note that a zone is a single monitored area of a building, shown as a single area on the alarm panel, that is scanned by the fire alarm panel as a single unit, i.e. all detectors and other fire related devices in that zone are monitored as a single unit, and if any of the detectors etc are triggered by fire, then the panel will show which zone has been activated by fire.
How Building Layout Sets the Boundaries
Zone boundaries are defined by the physical boundaries of the building or parts of the building such as between floors, between fire compartments and along corridors. Typically between 1-2 meters from wall lines to allow for proper operation of detectors. The BS 5839 design standard for fire detection systems recommends that no single zone should exceed an area of 2,000 square meters and that the search area within the zone should not exceed 60 meters.
How Occupancy Type Affects Zoning
The areas within a building that are divided up by fire compartments and floors are typically divided up into fire alarm zones as well. This means that an open plan office would typically be divided up into one fire alarm zone. However, a multi storey building would typically have one zone per floor. Mixed use premises (for example a retail unit on the ground floor with flats above) would typically have separate fire alarm zones for each of the different occupiers in order to clearly set out the evacuation procedures for each of the different areas of the building.
Zone Numbers and the Alarm Panel
Each zone is given a reference number or a name which is displayed on the fire alarm panel when the zone is activated. By having a simple plan of the building showing the zones as defined by the fire alarm engineer in Milton Keynes it is simple to read the panel and know where to go on arrival.
What the Responsible Person Should Check
You should ensure that your Fire Alarm Installer provides you with a simple plan outlining the fire alarm zones and the corresponding simple floor plan(s).
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A current, accurate zone plan is one of the most useful documents that a responsible person will keep.
