The fire alarm system is one of the more important life safety systems within your building; detecting the presence of a fire condition, notifying the occupants to exit, and contacting the fire department to respond. However we frequently find the fire alarm is a last-minute thought. Unfortunetly this happens because the completion of the fire alarm system installation requires the construction of the building to be well underway. Deadlines for Temporary Certificate of Occupancies often cause the fire alarm system installation to be rushed and proper pre-testing of the fire alarm system to be skipped. While this is done in the hopes of obtaining an FDNY inspection and TCO more quickly, it ultimately causes a delay in TCO issuance due to improper fire alarm function. The results are lost time and money.
Fire Alarm Consulting
The fire alarm system is one of the more important life safety systems within your building; detecting the presence of a fire condition, notifying the occupants to exit, and contacting the fire department to respond.
Avoid Project Delays with Pre-Testing
To avoid project delays during the inspection and Temporary Certificate of Occupancy, Sparc performs walkthroughs of the building during construction to identify fire alarm installation deficiencies early. Once installation is complete, we perform a fire alarm pre-inspection with the project team and provide a punch list of required corrective actions to be completed prior to the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire alarm inspection. This approach minimizes the Letter of Defect, avoids Violation Orders, and ensures the fire alarm system is not the cause for a delayed issuance of the Temporary Certificate of Occupancy from the New York City Department of Buildings (NYCDOB).
After the fire alarm pre-inspection we will request and attend a fire alarm inspection with FDNY. If an FDNY Letter of Defect is issued to the project, Sparc will confirm the defects have been addressed and prepare a fire alarm affidavit. We will meet with the NYCDOB Borough Commissioner to request the fire alarm affidavit be used in lieu of the FDNY Letter of Approval to allow for occupancy and issuance of the Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO).
Phased Fire Alarm System Inspections
In unique projects or in larger buildings where owners have a preference to occupy portions of the building before the entire building is completed, we can request approval for a phased fire alarm system inspection from the FDNY to correspond to the NYCDOB Temporary Certificate of Occupancy plan. Sparc can prepare correspondence and associated fire alarm phasing drawings to clearly define the request and assist the owner in the implementation of the approach. Where necessary we can request meetings with the FDNY to discuss the project in greater detail.
Fire Alarm Consulting Services
- Performing construction period walk throughs
- Perform third party review of designs
- Performing fire alarm pre-inspections
- Preparing fire alarm phasing requests
- Preparing fire alarm affidavits for Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO)
- Attending FDNY fire alarm inspections
- Performing Remote Video Inspections (RVI)
- Professional Certification of Fire Alarm Systems (FDNY FA-26 and S-99 Certificate of Fitness)
- Submission of As-Builts or Administrative Documents (FDNY FA-27)