S95 Emergency Response Procedures 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When a fire alarm system goes into alarm during a scheduled maintenance window, what is the FIRST action a fire alarm system supervisor should take?
- Silence the alarm and resume maintenance
- Notify the fire department and occupants immediately (Correct answer)
- Check the maintenance log to see if the alarm is expected
- Reset the control panel and wait to see if it re-activates
Correct answer: Notify the fire department and occupants immediately
Even during a scheduled maintenance window, a fire alarm activation must be treated as a real emergency until confirmed otherwise, requiring immediate notification of the fire department and occupants.
Question 2: Which NFPA standard specifically governs the inspection, testing, and maintenance of fire alarm systems in the US?
- NFPA 1
- NFPA 72 (Correct answer)
- NFPA 101
- NFPA 13
Correct answer: NFPA 72
NFPA 72, the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, is the primary standard that governs inspection, testing, and maintenance of fire alarm systems.
Question 3: A building's fire alarm control unit (FACU) displays a 'trouble' signal rather than an alarm signal. What does this indicate?
- A confirmed fire event is in progress
- A sprinkler head has activated
- A fault or supervisory condition exists in the system that requires attention (Correct answer)
- The system has been placed in test mode
Correct answer: A fault or supervisory condition exists in the system that requires attention
A trouble signal on an FACU indicates a fault or supervisory condition—such as a wiring break, low battery, or disabled device—that requires investigation and correction.
Question 4: During a fire alarm activation, the Incident Command System (ICS) assigns a Fire Alarm Supervisor. This person's PRIMARY role is to:
- Evacuate all occupants personally
- Serve as liaison between the FACU and incident commander, reporting system status (Correct answer)
- Fight the fire until firefighters arrive
- Disable non-essential alarm zones to reduce confusion
Correct answer: Serve as liaison between the FACU and incident commander, reporting system status
The Fire Alarm Supervisor serves as the technical liaison to the incident commander, providing real-time system status including which zones alarmed, elevator recall status, and door hold-open releases.
Question 5: An emergency action plan (EAP) requires that fire alarm supervisors maintain a log of all alarm activations. This log must include:
- Only false alarms to track system reliability
- Date, time, zone, cause, and actions taken for every activation (Correct answer)
- Only activations that required fire department response
- Monthly summary totals without individual event details
Correct answer: Date, time, zone, cause, and actions taken for every activation
A complete alarm log must document the date, time, zone activated, determined cause, and all actions taken for every activation to support investigation, code compliance, and pattern analysis.
Question 6: When a fire alarm is activated in a high-rise building, elevator recall is initiated. Which floor should elevators return to under Phase I recall?
- The floor directly below the alarmed floor
- The highest floor in the building
- The designated primary lobby level or alternate recall floor if the lobby is threatened (Correct answer)
- The floor where maintenance personnel are located
Correct answer: The designated primary lobby level or alternate recall floor if the lobby is threatened
Phase I elevator recall returns all elevators to the designated primary recall floor (typically the lobby), or an alternate recall floor if the primary floor is threatened by the alarm zone.
Question 7: A fire alarm supervisor receives notice that the monitoring company failed to receive a signal test transmission. The CORRECT response is to:
- Document the failure and schedule a re-test within 30 days
- Immediately investigate the communication pathway and restore it, posting a fire watch if required by code (Correct answer)
- Manually call the fire department at the next scheduled check-in
- Place a note in the logbook and wait for the next scheduled transmission test
Correct answer: Immediately investigate the communication pathway and restore it, posting a fire watch if required by code
A failed signal transmission means the system cannot report alarms to the monitoring center, requiring immediate investigation and a fire watch if the outage cannot be quickly corrected per NFPA 72.
S95 Emergency Response Procedures 2
When a fire alarm system goes into alarm during a scheduled maintenance window, what is the FIRST action a fire alarm system supervisor should take?