Should Commercial Fire Systems Be Monitored?

Is there a solid reason to have a fire system commercially monitored? Absolutely. Commercial organizations have people, assets, and continued business processes to protect. A fire not only puts lives in danger, any disruption puts the entire business in danger.

While statistics and situations differ, it is clear that a disaster such as fire can devastate a business. In moments, fire can consume a room, and in minutes cause such damage as to close the business for a significant amount of time, and sometimes for good. Often, people think they have much longer to respond to a fire than they do and assume that someone will see, and someone will call. Commercial buildings face these problems when not monitored:

• Often in a commercial area unoccupied at night so a fire would burn unseen.
• Alarms would only be heard if someone is around and close enough.
• By the time fire departments are notified, the fire is already at a critical stage.
• Commercial processes are often seriously impacted by smoke.
• Loss of product can be devastating to a retail operation.
• Businesses do not make money during the recovery process.

It is Not Just Flame that Destroys

Fire not only destroys the structure. It can also cause the loss of product that could disrupt business operation. Even if a fire does not reach every room, smoke can infiltrate the smallest cracks and destroy sensitive equipment such as computers that can cause the need for them to be replaced, as well as costly lost time in operations. Businesses exist, of course, to be profitable so any lost time can cripple a business for months or even years.

Should Fire Alarms be Monitored? Yes, and Here’s Why.

• Fires can burn inside a building causing damage long before anyone notices.
• If the only signal something is wrong is an alarm, smoke, or the glow of fire then the stopping the fire depends on someone being around to see or hear.
• Waiting for help means the fire burns longer, causing more damage.
• Fire can consume a business in five minutes. Subtract the time it takes for someone to respond to an alarm. Subtract the amount of time the business is from the nearest fire station.
• Connecting an alarm to an alarm monitoring center ensures someone will hear and immediately respond to a fire event.
• Connecting to an alarm monitoring center means emergency help is mobilized in enough time to minimize damage.
• Monitoring stations are always on duty to respond immediately.

Professional monitoring can be the difference between your building and business becoming a historical fact and statistic or surviving for the future. For any questions give GMS a call today, 800-839-7212