Fire Safety
Responding to FireAngel Predict® alerts
What are the steps that should be followed once a Predict™ alert is triggered, categorising a property as ‘high risk’?
Fire Safety
Developed with support from the UK Fire and Rescue Service, FireAngel Predict® runs a unique algorithm with a patented application that spots trends of behaviours logged by smoke and heat alarms, creating a map of fire safety triggers and categorising properties as high or low risk.
Tried, tested and trusted after 10 years of development, Predict® gives visibility of previously hidden trends in social housing properties, such as alarms activating through the night or devices being removed.
However, devices that are incorrectly installed or sited in inappropriate areas can trigger multiple false alarms that result in a Predict® alert.
It’s important to ensure alarms are sited in the correct room. Ensuring the correct device is installed in the appropriate place can significantly reduce the occurrence of unwanted alarms.
To offer high protection, FireAngel advise a smoke alarm is installed within the circulation area of each floor of a home, as well as within the main habitable areas such as bedrooms and living rooms. Smoke alarms are not recommended for installations in kitchens, instead a heat alarm should be installed.
Smoke alarms should be sited at least 300mm from light fittings and walls, ideally as central as possible in the room. However, please check your local fire safety guidelines for specific requirements for your property. It’s important to remember that as the sensors in all alarms deteriorate after time, it’s recommended that alarms are replaced every 10 years.
Heat alarms should be fitted in rooms prone to high humidity, dust and fumes, such as kitchens, loft and garages. Heat alarms should also be sited at least 300mm from light fittings and walls, please do not install heat alarms on a wall.
Install at a distance no greater than 5.3m from the farthest wall, no greater than 5.3m from a door to any room in which a fire might start and no greater than 5.3m from the next heat or smoke alarm.
It’s also important to encourage residents to maintain a device by cleaning regularly using a soft brush adaptor on a vacuum or a soft cloth to clean the face of the alarm to help prevent any nuisance alarms.
If an alarm is sited correctly and is regularly maintained yet continues to trigger Predict® alerts, by automatically highlighting potentially dangerous behaviours to social landlords it enables active resident-centric intervention to mitigate risk. A personalised Safe and Well check by the Resident Safety Team and Fire & Rescue Services can also be arranged to help to prevent a life-threatening event.
Nick Rutter, FireAngel Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer said: “All organisations are stretched, and systems that offer loads of data are not the answer. FireAngel’s AI-driven predictive technology gives housing associations a stratification of risks, so they know how to use their resources most effectively.
“Because they can pinpoint the most significant need, this technology allows them to work more cost-effectively.”
Find out more information on how to pinpoint residents at risk in social housing with FireAngel Predict® or get in touch with our team of specialists.
