Fire Monitoring Technologies International Presents


Fire Monitoring Technologies International Inc. participated on the ComCARE live tests in October, November and December.
Go to www.openaccess.us and read more about it.


REPORT -> Study Shows Dramatic Reduction in Fire Response Times
Excerpts from the study prepared by
Leber/Rubes Inc.

OPEN ACCESS TM
  • A public-private sector fire safety initiative,
  • In partnership with the alarm industry
  • Delivering alarms to fire departments more quickly and reliably

Fire Monitoring Technologies International is an established technology provider to the fire safety community. We understand the challenges faced by property owners, alarm companies, fire departments, insurers and safety authorities.

When response to a fire is delayed, we all lose.
  • Conventional alarm monitoring provides an essential service but features inherent delay and opportunities for error

  • Reporting a fire alarm takes time. The slightest delay — even 30 seconds — means exponential increase in fire progress

  • Simple human errors can be fatal

  • Less than best possible alarm delivery is a systemic, ongoing problem for all of us. We can do better!
OPEN ACCESS TM
  • Proven to save an average of 114.7 seconds

  • And delivers alarms more reliably

Contact:

OPEN ACCESS TM
Fire Monitoring Technologies International
1235 Bay Street, Suite # 400
Toronto, Ontario
M5R 3K4

Toll Free: 
E-mail-:  		1-877-684-8970

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Message from the CEO
previous messages

Summer 2009

Reducing Response Times, We’re all in it Together!



Chad Asselstine, Manager, Business Development is stepping in for this edition of the Fire Monitoring of Canada Inc. CEO message.

We recently attended the 2009 Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs annual conference. A common theme emerged from our conversations with the Chiefs and Dignitaries. The need to reduce response times continues to press the fire community. We at Fire Monitoring of Canada Inc. (FMC) and Fire Monitoring Technologies International (FMTI) are of the same mindset. The most pressing need is to get fire fighters to the scene as soon as possible in order to reduce the risk of property damage and personal injury.

While FMC and the fire community share the same goal of reducing response times, the two parties appear to focus on the reduction of differing time variables. The difference between areas of focus is only natural, as both FMC and the fire community look to improve their area of expertise; the stages that they can directly manipulate. If we are to take a look at the Time/Temperature Relationship presented below, it illustrates each stage/variable of a fire response.


To note, we can see that a fire grows exponentially every 2 minutes.

The response to a fire progresses through six distinct stages/variables when a fire alarm system and fire monitoring system are present in the building.

    • The first is Detection, once a fire has started a detection device (smoke detector, heat detector, or pull station) connected to the building’s fire alarm system needs to be triggered either electronically or by an occupant in order for the fire alarm panel to initiate the fire alarm (alert).
    • The second is Notification, once the fire alarm panel has initiated a fire alarm signal, the fire alarm monitoring panel will then transmit the fire alarm signal to the Signal Receiving Centre (fire monitoring provider) where the SRC Dispatcher will then contact the appropriate PSAP or Fire Department.
    • The third is Dispatch, the PSAP or Fire Department Dispatcher dispatches the appropriate trucks to the scene.
    • The dispatched fire fighters Assemble for Travel.
    • The dispatched trucks Travel to the scene.
    • The fire fighters Set-up on scene.

It is understandable that of the above stages, the final four (Dispatch, Assembly, Travel, and Set-Up) are the four that receive the most attention by the fire community because these are the stages that they have a direct impact. However, at FMC we concentrate on the reduction of the Notification stage, the stage where we have a direct impact.

At Fire Monitoring of Canada Inc. it is our philosophy to implement OPEN ACCESSTM wherever available. OPEN ACCESSTM is a service that electronically redirects fire signals from the Signal Receiving Centre to the appropriate fire service communication centre simultaneously to these signals being received at FMC’s SRC. The use of OPEN ACCESSTM dramatically reduces the Notification stage as the need for human intervention and potential queue factors at the SRC are removed from the process.

As presented by Leber/Rubes (see News: Articles of Interest), OPEN ACCESSTM reduced the Notification stage by an average of two full minutes, even with the exclusion of 10% of the tested sites from the results of the study because their signals were never even called into the fire service communication centre. If the Notification stage takes on average two full minutes, it can be presumed that the fire is four times larger when the Fire Department arrives to a non OPEN ACCESSTM monitored fire alarm system. Given the vast improvements in technology in this day in age, two minutes and a fire which is four times as large is unacceptable.

The fire community continues to invest in new mapping systems, vehicles, and equipment in order to reduce response times. However, this infrastructure costs a great deal of money and the improved technologies cannot eliminate the uncontrollable variables of travel distance and traffic. If we were to say that we can provide a technology that has been proven to eliminate two full minutes in response time, allowing the Fire Department to arrive at a fire that is four times smaller than they would otherwise be attending, would you be interested?

For more information on OPEN ACCESSTM please feel free to contact us.

Chad Asselstine
Manager, Business Development
Fire Monitoring of Canada Inc.

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OPEN ACCESS TM is a technology breakthrough which adds value to alarm monitoring services. It can save lives by shaving valuable seconds off the response time to a fire and reduce risk to firefighters. It can lower insurance claims by saving millions of dollars of damage to property!

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