When determining the area to be covered by a zone, consideration should be given to accessibility, size, and the fire routine determined for the premises and particularly in occupied premises, that each zone is accessible from the main circulation routes leading from where the control panel is sited. Zone plans can help the Fire rescue service quickly establish where the fire may have started, so action to extinguish and control the fire can be carried out as soon as possible. Quick action can help to save life and property damage. These are the basic guidelines for the size of the zone: • If the total area of the building (i.e., the total of the floor areas of each floor) is not greater than 300m², then the building need only be one zone, no matter how many floors it has. • The total floor area of a zone should not exceed 2000m². • The search distance should not exceed 30m. The use of remote indicator lamps outside doors may reduce the number of zones required. • If the zone covers more than one fire compartment, then the zone boundaries should follow compartment boundaries. • If the building is split into several occupancies, no zone should be split between two occupancies. If the detector in a zone becomes faulty or inoperable it must not prevent the operation of detectors in the remaining zones, a single fault should not remove protection from an area greater than that allowed for a single zone. Emergency Voice Communication (EVC) Systems An EVC system can help in an effective evacuation during an emergency - it can help to save lives. The system helps to communicate with 'emergency personnel' and all occupants within a building. It aims to assist and reassure throughout an emergency. The system can be located in many different venues, and also help disabled people who may be present and may have difficulty in negotiating the evacuation route. The EVC system is configured to meet the requirements of all evacuation phases and emergency communication needs. The speech quality should provide perfect communication in the loudest of situations. The system can be wall mounted in several parts of the building, including the fire points and refuges. It may also be located in the disabled toilets. Use of Alarm Receiving Centres Both automatic and manual fire detection systems can be connected to an alarm receiving centre. This connection is normally via a telephone line. The use of such a monitoring system can provide significant benefits: • Such a system provides constant monitoring of the fire detection system, constant meaning 24 hours 7 days a week. The majority of fires start after normal working hours, and a long period of time could elapse before the fire was detected if the building was unoccupied. • During normal working hours or even if the premises are occupied constantly, during an evacuation when the principal objective is to get everyone out of the building, or during the panic that can be caused by a fire, calling the fire and emergency services can be overlooked. There could be a situation in which the person nominated to call the fire and emergency services was unavailable, or worse still could be trapped by the fire.
©SHEilds – All rights reserved FC V 5 JUN 2021
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