Fire Alarms: More than Just a Headache

More to it than Just Noise

Will Dugan

8/11/2009

Syracuse--What is it about the sound a fire alarm makes? Why does that alarm compel us to go outside? It could be because the noise is so harsh, people will do anything to escape it. Or maybe, because it means there is a fire someplace in the building. But Dale Eller, the Executive Director of a Pennsylvania based safety-consulting company, I-T-Z solutions, said there is a science behind the repeating pulse of a fire alarm horn.

“The pulsing actually helps move people out of a building faster. It is almost like a march pace, where they will tend to walk to the pace of the horn, which means they evacuate quicker,” said Eller.

Fire alarm horns pulse in a Temporal 3 pattern, which is three quick bursts and then a pause; this pattern does not only makes people walk quicker, but it is also good for waking people up. The Temporal 3 pattern is a component in any fire alarm built in the last decade, and it is exclusive to fire alarms, said Eller.

Bells Don’t Cut it

Older systems used bells to alert people to fires. The idea was that the bells mirrored the sounds fire trucks make, said Eller. But bells do not resonate through a building well, so most new systems use pulsing horns he said. Any building that has been built in the last ten years, or buildings with significant renovations, have one of these updated systems said Eller. Although these new systems were not made with the intent to annoy, it is a welcome help to getting people out of a building he said.