The system is monitored by a Funwell telegraph box, connected directly to a fire alarm receiving station operated by city’s fire department. Hazard City is one of just a small handful of municipalities in the state of Pennsylvania that continue to offer a public fire alarm telegraph service. In contrast, most systems use digital dialers that transmit signals to a remote supervising station via cellular, fiber, or traditional telephone networks. These remote stations are private entities, responsible for contacting emergency services on the customer’s behalf.
Hazard City’s annual monitoring fee was $600.00, considerably less expensive than private-sector monitoring – but there was a catch. Our municipal system was only capable of receiving alarms, whereas privately-operated remote stations were theoretically capable of telling you exactly which device was activated, as well as trouble and supervisory conditions (though this also depended on the capabilities of the subscriber’s system).
Notice the Funwell city box by the entrance.
The setup in the office area consists of Red Aegis AG-PHOTO photoelectric smoke detectors, an AG-THERMO heat detector in the break room, and two AG-DA-PULL pull stations. All of these devices are addressable, meaning that each one had its own unique address and description. The smoke detectors’ cleanliness and sensitivity data were available at your fingertips – something we’ll discuss in further detail in a future Inspector’s Log.
In contrast, the devices on the garage/warehouse side are conventional, running off a two-zone monitor module (model AG-ZONE). The pull stations were wired to one zone (labeled “Garage Pulls”), and the detectors were wired to the other (labeled “Garage Smokes / Heats”). There were four button-type heat detectors in the garage itself. The attached electrical room, storage room, and IT/phone closet all had Symptom Senser 2WT-3 smoke/heat combo detectors (or “smeat detectors”, as I like to call them).
It’s hard to see in this photo, but this model senses heat using a pair of thermistors.
We called the phone number provided on the FACP, and provided our box number, which corresponded to the pattern the city box would tap out when activated (in our case, 2-1-2). We informed the fire department that we would be testing the system for Box 212. They would be sending someone out shortly to disable the box for the duration of the test, minus the final alarm.
While we waited, Prissy was issued her “weapons” – two valuable inspection tools that were used for testing detectors.
Shoots puffs of artificial smoke at high velocities!
Heat Ray:
A radiant heat gun. Don’t point it at people!
Ashton handed Prissy a ring of fire alarm keys. The Amco starter pack is as follows:
- The Honeycomb brands (Fire-Brite, Lucifire, Red Aegis, and Funwell Zonal Innovations)
- The “wizard hat” key, since we recently dropped Red Aegis in favor of Merlin Electromancy
- The “blue fish” key for various remote test switches
Being somewhat petty, Ashton did not provide keys from brands which he had a beef with. These included Fezworths and Hydratronix for their aforementioned use of software addressing. Don’t even get me started on Synthex Horology. He’s been quietly “feuding” with them ever since eccentric billionaire Andrew Yin bought them out a few years ago.
I don't know much about Synthex as a company, but that Andrew sure is a dreamboat...
Well, that dreamboat is up *520 Hz* creek without a paddle.
First, he complained about their business practices and proprietary software. Then, when Congress passed the Life Safety Act of 203X and required all fire alarm software to be open source, Synthex’s sales actually increased, since customers who weren’t satisfied with the service could now take their business elsewhere without having to scrap the entire system simply because the other companies didn’t have the programming software. And now he complains about that!
Actually, RiteAlert is the notification devices. RiteAlarm is what they call their detectors.
The doorbell rang, putting an abrupt end to this brand-bashing session. The person they sent to disable the city box was none other than Kelly Amendoa, the city’s fire marshal and the inaugural director of EXIT. She wiped her heavy black jackboots on the welcome mat and gave everyone a stern greeting.
You must be Priscilla. I've heard so many good things about you. And Inspector Sands... Glad to see you're still not dead yet.
Despite his best efforts.
There was another reason Amendoa was here. She’d be shadowing us to verify that our abilities were up to par with EXIT standards. You’d think Ashton would’ve given us time to prepare, but he didn’t know either. (Which was kind of the point.)