Fire alarm or smoke detection camera: what each one does

A fire alarm system is a set of parts that work together. Indian Standard IS 2189 is the Bureau of Indian Standards code of practice for these systems. It describes an automatic fire detection and alarm system as the components and sub-systems needed to detect a fire automatically, raise an automatic alarm and start other actions as required. It covers planning, design, selection, installation and maintenance, from simple systems with a few manual call points to complex installations.

In everyday terms, the parts are these.

• Detectors, which notice the fire. The next section covers the types.
• Manual call points, the buttons that let a person raise the alarm by hand.
• A control and indicating panel, which receives the signals and shows what has happened.
• Alarm devices such as sounders, which warn everyone in the building.
• Links to other equipment. IS 2189 covers systems that can send a signal to start other things, such as fire extinguishing systems.
• Zones. IS 2189 defines an alarm zone as a sub-division of the premises, so that the warning for one area can be given separately. This is how a panel tells you roughly where the fire is.

A fire detector is the part that notices a fire. IS 2189 describes three main kinds, by what they sense. Which type goes where is a design decision for your installer or a fire consultant, not something to guess.

• Smoke detectors detect visible or invisible particles of combustion. IS 2189 covers ionization, optical and air sampling types.
• Heat detectors detect an abnormally high temperature, a fast rise in temperature, or both.
• Flame detectors sense the radiant energy a flame gives off. IS 2189 covers ultraviolet and infrared types.

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The Bureau of Indian Standards publishes the National Building Code of India 2016, and its Part 4 is Fire and Life Safety. BIS describes the code as a model code for adoption by the agencies involved in building work. So what applies to your building depends on the rules your state and local authority have adopted.

Ask your local fire authority, or a licensed fire consultant, what your building needs. We are not fire engineers, and this guide does not tell you what your building must have.

Spot detectors work well in ordinary rooms. Very large, tall spaces are harder. Jensen Hughes, a fire protection engineering firm, writes that in large facilities with tall ceilings designers find conventional smoke detectors impractical because of maintenance and testing. It adds that the performance of spot type detectors degrades as ceiling height increases.

Warehouses, factories and open sheds can be like this. The certified system is still the one that protects the people inside. The question is what else can help.

Video-based detection uses software to look for smoke and flame in camera pictures. There are two kinds, and it matters which one you are buying.

• Video fire detectors that are part of a fire alarm system. There is an international standard for them, ISO 7240-29, and NFPA 72, the US fire alarm code, recognises video smoke and flame detection systems. Jensen Hughes notes that installing these requires a performance-based design. These are fire alarm products, specified by a fire engineer.
• Camera software that watches your video and tells you. This is what we make. It is not a certified fire detector, it does not sound your building's alarm, and it does not call the fire brigade. It tells you and the people you choose.

Next to a certified system, fire and smoke detection from cameras can add a few useful things.

• A wide view. One camera sees across a large open space, such as a shop floor, a storage hall or a yard, so smoke or flame can be spotted wherever the camera can see it.
• A photo of where. The alert is a picture with the camera and the time, so you can see where it is and how big it looks, not just that something went off.
• Places detectors may not cover. Cameras already look at yards, docks and open storage, where there may be no detector at all.
• A second look. A second, larger model double-checks every event before you are alerted, so you are not woken by every shadow.
• It reaches you where you are. The photo arrives on WhatsApp, Telegram or the Foreman app while it is still happening.

Camera-based detection has limits, and you should know them before you rely on it for anything.

• It needs to see. Smoke or flame has to be in a camera's view, with enough light. A fire behind a stack or inside a machine may not be visible. We also watch for a camera that has been covered, so you know when a view is lost.
• It can be wrong. The second check cuts false alarms, but no system is perfect.
• It needs the internet to send the alert.
• It does not run your building's alarm. It does not sound sirens, start extinguishing systems or call the fire brigade.
• It is not certified. It cannot stand in for the certified system that any approval or inspection of your building asks for.

Put simply, the two do different jobs. This is how they compare.

• Warns everyone in the building: a certified fire alarm does, through its alarm devices. Our alerts do not. They go to you and the people you choose.
• Built and tested to a standard: a certified fire alarm is. Our software is not certified as a fire alarm or detector.
• Starts other safety equipment: a fire alarm system can. Our software does not.
• Sees a wide space at once: a camera can, if the fire is in view. A spot detector senses what reaches it.
• Shows you a picture: a camera alert does. A panel shows you the zone.
• Needs regular care: both do. IS 2189 says regular inspection and scheduled preventive maintenance are critical for a fire alarm system, and a camera needs a clean lens and a clear view.

IS 2189 says that even a well designed and properly installed automatic fire alarm system will not give reliable service unless maintenance and supervision are kept up for its whole life. Do not switch anything off, delay a test or skip a service because you also have cameras.

If you ever get a fire alert from us, follow your fire plan first. Raise the alarm, get people out, and call your local fire emergency number. Then look at the photo.

People also search for a fire monitoring system. If you mean being told when your alarm panel goes off or shows a fault, that comes from your fire alarm supplier. If you mean being shown a photo of smoke or flame on a camera, that is what our software does, and it sits alongside the alarm.

Many sites already have cameras and a recorder (a DVR or NVR). They record. Nobody is looking at 2 a.m.

Our software runs on a Windows PC at the site and works with the cameras and recorders that are already there: Hikvision and Prama, Dahua, CP Plus, TVT, Uniview, Axis, Hanwha, and any camera or recorder that supports RTSP or ONVIF. It installs in 60 seconds. Your recorder keeps recording as usual, and recordings stay on site.

Our own AI models, trained in-house, watch every camera for smoke and fire, for people after hours in zones you mark, and for a camera that has been covered. A second, larger model double-checks every event before you are alerted. Then the photo arrives on WhatsApp, Telegram or the Foreman app while it is still happening. Event clips are encrypted and deleted after 30 days, and we never train on your footage.

A few honest limits. We do not sell cameras. We do not provide guards or a monitoring centre. And our fire and smoke detection complements certified fire alarms and life-safety systems. It never replaces them.