The fire alarm panel controls all of the activities that occur within a building. The devices that are located throughout a building such as sprinklers, smoke detectors, heat detectors, pull stations and bells, all send and receive signals to and from the Fire Alarm Panel.
When a smoke detector activates, meaning smoke is present, a signal is sent to the fire alarm panel which then makes the bells in the building ring. The bells are what occupants in the building hear and are what everyone recognizes as a sign telling them to exit the building. Fire alarm systems are great at doing what they are meant to do, which is alert occupants that a fire has been detected. This is the point at which the fire alarm system stops.
The occupants of the building have been notified, but the fire department has no way of knowing that this fire alarm system has detected a fire. This is where the fire monitoring panel takes over. Once the fire monitoring panel detects that the fire alarm panel (this happens electronically) has activated a device, it immediately sends a signal to the Signals Receiving Centre (SRC) and an operator will place a call to the appropriate Fire Department, or in the case of OPEN ACCESS™ the signal will be electronically re-transmitted to the fire department the very instant it arrives at the SRC.
Fire monitoring panels allow monitoring companies such as FMC to act as a watch dog 24 hours a day / 7 days a week / 365 day a year.