Improvement of Alarm Methods for Emergency Broadcast Equipment and Other Alarm Systems

Emergency Broadcast Equipment Fire Safety Performance and Technical Standards to Take Effect Starting Tomorrow

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The National Fire Agency announced on the 9th that it will issue and implement from tomorrow partial amendments to the 'Fire Safety Performance Standards for Emergency Broadcasting Equipment (NFPC 202)' and 'Fire Safety Technical Standards for Emergency Broadcasting Equipment (NFTC 202)' that improve the application targets and methods of alarm equipment such as emergency broadcasting systems.

Domestic fire alarm methods include the simultaneous alarm method and the priority alarm method. The simultaneous alarm method sounds an alarm throughout the entire building regardless of the fire floor, while the priority alarm method activates the alarm mainly on the floor where the fire occurred to prioritize evacuation.

Until now, the simultaneous alarm method was applied only to buildings below a certain scale (less than 5 floors and a total floor area under 3,000㎡) because occupants who recognized the fire would evacuate all at once, causing bottlenecks and potential casualties. The priority alarm method was applied to buildings with 5 floors or more and a total floor area exceeding 3,000㎡.

However, considering recent trends of larger and more diverse building scales and increasing potential risk factors such as vertical fire spread, the fire safety standards have been revised with key points including ▲expanding the application targets of the simultaneous alarm method and ▲strengthening alarm functions by expanding the alarm floors of the priority alarm method as part of proactive administration to reduce casualties in case of fire.

First, the application target of the simultaneous alarm method is expanded from buildings under 5 floors and a total floor area under 3,000㎡ to buildings up to 10 floors (up to 15 floors for apartment buildings). For buildings up to 10 floors (15 floors for apartment buildings), if a fire is detected on any one floor, the fire alarm will sound on all floors so that occupants can quickly recognize the fire information and evacuate.

The priority alarm method's target has been adjusted from buildings with 5 floors or more and a total floor area exceeding 3,000㎡ to those with 11 floors or more (16 floors or more for apartment buildings).

Instead of sounding alarms only on the fire floor and the floor immediately above, the target floors have been expanded to include the fire floor and the four floors directly above it.

Meanwhile, the alarm method for "automatic fire detection equipment" was revised on May 9 of last year, and its implementation will coincide with the improvement of the alarm method for emergency broadcasting equipment, starting from February 10.

Choi Jaemin, head of the Fire Analysis System Division at the National Fire Agency, said, "We expect that the improvement of alarm methods for emergency broadcasting equipment and other alarm systems will help rapid evacuation of people in case of fire," and added, "We will continue to improve the system in line with the rapidly changing fire safety environment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.