A false alarm is an alarm signal that does not correspond to any actual danger signs on site. False alarms occur in environments and with technologies as diverse as tsunami early warning, airport people scanners, intrusion detection systems, disease diagnostics, etc.
In the field of fire protection, a false alarm is defined as an alarm signal (activation) of a fire detection or fire alarm system when there is no condition for intervention.
False alarms are divided mainly into the following categories :
a. False alarms of equipment or technical faults,
b. misleading false alarms and
c. malicious and well-intentioned false alarms.
EURALARM has just published a fact sheet to better explain the phenomenon of false alarms in fire detection.
Source : Fact sheet Increase fire safety by understanding false alarms By Martin Franke
