Fire Alarm

The fire alarm system is designed to give occupants an early warning when there is a smoke or fire condition in your building.   NEVER ignore the alarms just because your area is clear, there may be a fire or smoke condition on another floor that the sensitive detection devices have alerted you to.

Assume there is a fire even if you do not see smoke in your immediate area. 

What should I do if I hear the fire alarm go off?

• Find all individuals in your unit and Immediately exit the building for safe measure, the courtyard does not count.

• NEVER go back to retrieve personal belongings.

• Move away from the front of the building to allow the fire fighters and Apparatus to access the building. 

• If there is an incident on the upper floors, the area underneath is the hazard zone and that is where you will be injured by falling glass and debris.

• If it was a test alarm, we typically will send out a message prior to a test.

Pre-Planning:

• Have an exit strategy, know two ways out, such as another stairway, an emergency exit or a fire escape.

• IDENTIFY the nearest Fire Extinguisher to your Unit.  Knowing the location of the nearest fire extinguisher will allow quicker reaction to a fire that is still at a controllable size.  Do Not engage a fire that has grown beyond your ability to control with a fire extinguisher.

• CLOSE ALL DOORS and bedroom doors to control the spread of fire.  Any open doors will allow a fire to spread prior to the arrival of the Fire Department.

• NEVER use an elevator in ANY building once the fire alarm is sounding. Use the stairs.

In the background:

• Magnetized doors will close (hallways, elevator doors, yoga room, etc) and will not magnetize and stay open until after the fire alarm is reset Please don't prop the doors open as it's meant in real situations to prevent the fire from spreading. Once the doors are re-magnetized it's also a little tricky to align the magnet with the pad at the right angles. 

• Board members will go to the fire control room to determine the origin of the alarm. We currently have a SJFD captain and a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) member on the Board.

• SJ Fire Department will arrive to triage and inspect the area.

• Statcomm will also be contacted to reset the system if it was a false alarm.