Cal-West Fire Alarm Service

The video provided to the authorities was able to assist in making an arrest; however we never recovered our property.

A common courtesy extended by most inspection companies compromises your life safety system and its ability to properly alert those in an emergency. Upon arrival this system was in trouble on multiple circuits, so we performed a functional notification appliance test. Two circuits were strapped out to ignore the troubles. The system was reported by security to have been in trouble condition for 2-years. If your inspection company does not verify the activation of every notification appliance (Horn/Strobe), malfunctioning devices may not be located. If you are asked by or told by you testing technician to perform a silent test on your system, reschedule for a time when there is no disruption to daily business so the notification appliances can be properly verified.

This system was found in a condition that frankly scares me, this is only one of over 2 dozen problems found with devices bypassed; 3 story mall.

According to reports from the Tenant/Owner of the facility the sprinkler system activated while closed for the weekend and flooded the facility until the following Monday destroying their computer systems, electronics, and paperwork. This was due to recalled sprinkler heads either going unreported, replaced, or both. Make sure you Sprinkler inspector checks your system for recalls. This building also had a frozen or stock water flow switch due to age. Water flow valve and heads were replaced, system retested and inspected.

We ran into this situation at a Daycare/Preschool in Rocklin, Ca. during an annual inspection 2022. If the system was always install this way why has it past every year since 2019. There was more!

It is far to common to find a cellular sole path communicator that is not properly supervised by the main FACP it provides offsite communication for. Note: Known issue with the DMP is they suppress signals if the panel goes into runaway resulting in dropped transmissions, and sure-guard receivers do not support Starlink IP redirect; so the next receiver update could leave your Starlink non-functional.

Fire alarm inspection are required to include verification of building automation controls and interfaces. The common practice is to check the relays for change of state, we like to verify damper activation and full closure as well as full functionality of all interfaced devices. This can be properly captured on the NFPA 72 inspection forms available from NFPA.ORG Interface Supplemental Record of Testing and Inspection

This RTU unit is as big as a semi truck and testing the duct detectors inside the unit is not safe or feasible with the amount of air pressure. Not sure how the installing contractor was able to perform a magnehelic (Differential Pressure) test on the devices. Is this the proper location for these devices?

We discovered malfunctioning devices throughout this project during an annual inspection. This situation existed from 2008-2021; we fixed most of this after our inspection. The customer opted to hold off for a new TI to fix the mismatched device circuits; Brand-Mixed. The malfunctions were mainly due to non adherence to the basic rule of not-mixing unlike brands on the same circuit. Gentex and System Sensor devices don't play well together when on the same circuit or mixed across the same power supply. OOPS!

We discovered this issue in a 70k sqft 2 story office building in Rocklin, Ca This was original install from 2008 and every annual inspection until 2021 did not report this. The smoke detector we had to add in 2021 because they were never installed per plan; who does this? I could say names but I won't they were the installing and inspecting company from 2008-2020. It pays to contract someone who cares about what they do for a living

Speaker strobes are a much more useful alarm notification appliance and believe it or not they cost relatively the same or less for the over all system. There are several advantages to speaker strobes: 1. You can send any audio file out 2. You can you use for overhead paging 3. You can use for back ground music 4. You can make all call announcements to all zones 5. The sound is less irritating and customizable (Canned sound files available) 6. Speaker Circuits higher capacity then conventional appliance circuits. These make the system more useful overall.

The conduit passing through the refrigerator wall to the outside warmer air causes condensation inside the conduit where the two temperatures meet; we warned the electrician about this and provided an install detail that was dismissed.

INVREP on Notifier and Fire Lite panels means the the Sensor or Module is not communicating with the panel; commfault Scrolling through existing troubles upon arrival prior to servicing the system.

This short video was taken at the Water Resource Building Downtown Sacramento, Ca

This video is a compilation of issues we encountered during installations or inspections in existing facilities.

The video was taken at a Sutter Surgery Center in Manteca, Ca.

Conduit Stubs provided to us by an electrical contractor on one of our projects in Carmichael Ca. During cable installation several locations required repair.

Service call to investigate a system trouble where a CPU failure event was present on a EST QuickStart panel. Monitoring company failed to properly report this system to the AHJ for fire watch requirements; elderly housing facility in Natomas area.

This project was encountered in Marysville at a multi-building apartment complex without a fire sprinkler system. The fire alarm system was local alarm only with no offsite communications. Local systems of this nature are required to be tested and inspected weekly.

Strobes flash but no audibles, what gives? The audio visual appliances are 4 wire devices that had developed a trouble and the previous service company strapped out the circuits and left a note they would be back another day to trouble shoot; note dated 2 years prior to our inspection. WOW!!

This slide show is of various issues encounter while services customers in our area of the world.

Sacramento Waste Management strobes out of sync

Testing the activation and soud of a 520hz Low Frequency Kidde/EST horn controlled by a GSA-CC1S SLC & Aux power fed from Kidde VS4 Control panel

This door was tested in conjunction with Vortex Door in Burlingame, California. Fire Smoke Doors are required to roll down automatically in the event of an alarm associated to the door; typically the smoke detectors located both sides of the door way. The limitations of control is not limited to just those smoke detectors, other alarm devices can be programmed to operate these doors also upon approval of the local AHJ