Are Louder Fire Alarms Better? Why are Fire Alarms Loud?

[@alarmsandamtrak]

This is absolutely accurate. In elementary school, I was so terrified of the fire alarm that I would think about it all day long. We had old mechanical horns grouped pretty close to each other (although luckily not in the classrooms, like my middle school has). If my school had an alarm system that was only loud enough to be 15 db over the ambient sound, it would have relieved so much fear.

[@slapshotjack9806]

Same, when I was in middle school i remember the fire alarms were in the classrooms despite the hallway being very small however they were loud and jarring and the only way you would be able to predict it is when you heard a siren sound for 1 second from the front office go off and you know that’s your que to cover your ears

[@Schobbish]

Yeah I was the same way, to the point where I would avoid/dread sitting in front/under fire alarms. My elementary was like what he described in the video where there is only one horn strobe in the hallway responsible for alerting all the classrooms, so that wasn't an issue. But in middle and high school we had super loud horn strobes in every classroom. I do wonder if the installers were too lazy to actually set the volume setting correctly and if that contributes. I know classrooms _can_ get loud, but it's certainly not most of the time.

[@CECFan1992]

unfortunately one of my schools classrooms has a mechanical simplex in one of the rooms, and they refuse to replace it cause the district is a pain, same with the building being super old.

[@razvandobos9759]

As someone on the autism spectrum, I dreaded fire drills back in elementary. The piercing electromechanical noise of the Gentex Commander 3’s on code 3 horn that sounded like a screaming howler monkey that my school uses just scared me to tears at times. I knew deep down they had to be loud to alert everyone’s attention, but sheesh, tone it down just a little! Now at 25, I’m a fire alarm enthusiast and have been one since 2011. I think it helped relieve my fear of fire drills a bit. BTW, Commander 3’s on code 3 chime are just ear candy at times. That tone is mainly used in hospitals.

[@BotvacProductions469]

ear candy?

[@nics-systems-electric]

Once again, a very well done video. One thing to add from my personal experience is loudness is often also due to laziness or cost cutting. The first being you have an electrician putting up these devices that other doesn't realize they are adjustable, or more likely doesn't or isn't instructed lower the output as being excessively loud in most cases won't fail a verification meaning, not coming back to that same device to mess with it again. The other reason I see is design of the building with fewer devices on a very high setting to maintain minimum requirements in further rooms and spaces. This means when you're right next to the device it's going to be very loud. That in itself being why the the older systems are often louder as you mentioned in your video.

[@milespeterson5049]

You see, with tornado sirens, they aren't necessarily made to cause panic, BUT THEY DO.

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Right

[@jonahplayscello]

I have seen this first hand. Just a couple days ago I was preparing to preform in an orchestra for a concert. Out of nowhere I heard that same voice evacuation thing. Everyone was still until it started talking.

[@prism_2903]

1:46 oh my god that combo

[@SirensAndAlarmsOfNorthernIL]

Isn’t it an epic combo?

[@FuskyTheHusky81]

My elementary school fire alarm system constantly had issues and we had many false alarms where we were even told to discard alarms unless put over the announcement system other wise. Those things were the old ones that were loud af but really, just like you say, the crowd mentality makes staying perfectly OK.

[@Beep_beep-pl7rd]

I’ve always wondered why my school that isn’t big has had a voice evac system. Now I realize why thanks.

[@Simplex-ec3ie]

People think that a loud alarm will scare or irritate people into leaving the building but that is not true.

[@FanFanFan777]

No fire alarm are loud to ensure the building has been alerted instantly and everyone should have immediately evacuated the building.

[@pfefferwal]

tell that to horn strobes in bathrooms

[@PikaMatt07]

​@@pfefferwalits why i dont like going to the bathroom at school man

[@NewAgeServer]

One point that could be made about older devices is the mechanical horns produced MUCH lower frequency sound output which by how sound waves work means that would penetrate a lot further through walls and structure and would be better heard. Modern devices are typically really high pitched and can't penetrate as well, so more devices are needed. However, while someone may criticize this at first glance, it really isn't that much of a problem when you consider strobe coverage requirements; you need strobes everywhere, but just make some horn strobes if other horn strobes nearby aren't effective enough.

[@joeycaridi3030]

Mechanical Horns have a low frequency output but high current draw which is why there aren't a lot of signals of them as the sound can penetrate the walls easily Electronic horns have a high frequency output but low current draw which is why there are a lot of signals of them as the sound can't penetrate through walls easily Fire bells do have a high frequency output but their gong vibrations placed next to a wall can vibrate it easily depending on which wall it's installed as the sound from the bell on the other side doesn't penetrate well

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Good point

[@boredreindeer5602]

My high school has the horns seen at 6:54 for the most part, with a few spectralert horn (both classics and advanced) thrown in at the most random places, along with an electronic simplex horn in some areas

[@Conessay]

Absolutely golden video. W recommendation pull! Thanks KZbin!

[@TFEAS-09]

I'd say that low frequency chimes are good for quiet to mildly crowded people (like a mall). They'll be heard but won't be screaming people out of the building.

[@adamk9652]

While i love legacy devices (especially rare ones) sometimes a system needs to be updated to newer devices to maintain code compliance, to replace a broken device or to accommodate other upgrades. But yeah older devices always have a place in my heart.

[@Commentcomprimiser]

Glad someone finally pointed out this argument

[@pfefferwal]

at 0:27 wow I've never seen that horn strobe saying EVAC instead of FIRE

[@HalonPoisoning]

I will say i have witnessed a couple of times where even a voice evac went off and nobody left and they all just ignored it.

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

It happens

[@Organham4903]

In my opinion, it’s not necessarily the volume, but the sound it produces. Certain fire alarms which sound sort of eerie seem to bring out my “oh sh!t, I gotta get out of here” response, such as the Siemens code-3 tone or the EST genesis. A moderated amount of urgency isn’t necessarily bad. Enough to invoke a crowd respond without causing panic

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Perhaps

[@aidanthetoiletelevatorfire7554]

I think modern Fire Alarms are much more effective than older, they come in different customizability, functionality and they have a clear, bright strobe. The most effective mechanical horn I'd say is the Simplex 4903 Electromechanical Horn Strobes, Faraday U-HN Series and Gentex GMS

[@jefftandaweatherman]

nah jed bro is probs shrewsbury xc head coach 💀

[@josephfrye7342]

I don’t think loud mechanical horn last long but it’s should be at 15db for voice evac though. And also false alarm or not they have to leave the building

[@justinzeid212]

Not all buildings are automatically evacuated when a fire alarm sounds. It depends on the type of buildings. Sports venues are a good example. The decision to whether or not to evacuate the building would then be made by building personnel. If they know it is a false alarm, they will keep the building occupied as evacuating everyone (and then reentering them) takes time. A high rise is another example. According to the NFPA, due to high rises having sprinkler systems and other fire protection, it would generally not be necessary to evacuate the entire building. You would only need to evacuate the floor the fire is on as well as the floors immediately above and below.

[@4j12m]

Cool video! Love when you post! Also learned A LOT about this topic

[@iansanchez1470]

That is Why I like my Middle and High School's Gentex Commander 4's, it can be heard over Ambient Sound Level but do not Sound Ear Piercing Loud, The Elementary School had Wheelock NS-24MCW and Was Ear Piercing Loud

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Perhaps

[@BSAS11]

My elementary school had Simplex TrueAlerts on continuous. They were REALLY loud. My middle school had very quiet speaker strobe set to 520hz

[@RaccoonAlarmsVosgra]

You made some really good points in this video! I agree!

[@YourLocalAviationNerd]

Before our renovation to G4R-FS2VM Speaker Strobes like last year if i do remember, we had old Edwards 895B-201 24 Volt speaker strobes, that at random times when the classroom is quiet and we be chilling doing our stuff, the alarm blares loud asf literally jump scaring me because I use to sit next to the alarm.

[@HappyJigg]

I would LOVE to see a video on crowd response.

[@dutchwolf2675]

I also think with tones. Some alarm tones like code 3 or some Hilo tones don’t sound urgent or anything. Some tones like the German DIN tone and a few slow whoops give a sense of urgency in my opinion

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

An urgent sounding tone isn’t necessarily good

[@dutchwolf2675]

@ eh not sure, I’ve seen to similar settings and the urgent tone got the place out faster

[@TheOriginalR]

Very interesting and informative video. I enjoyed every minute of it. I remember when I used to be scared of the fire alarms at my elementary and middle schools. They used to actually sound a siren over the intercom additionally while the fire alarms with mechanical horn strobes are sounding. I was more scared of the sudden siren sounding over the intercom over the mechanical horn strobes in the hallway. There were only strobes in the classrooms in my elementary school but I think my middle school only had horn strobes in the hallway and no notification devices in the classroom. so we heavily relied on the siren over the school intercom. By any chance did you have experience like that too in any of your schools you went to back then?

[@All_ConsumingBandu]

I used to think the term "Mechanical horns" were just any type of horn, but I guess not. Also bells and speaker strobes are my favorites because horns are nothing but hearing damage.

[@BotvacProductions469]

LOL

[@colbyjohnson_07]

My school has the original fire alarms in the halls faraday horn strobes from the 90s and spectra alert classics in classes

[@colbyjohnson_07]

The school was built in 1993 the alarms are ear piercing?

[@gravthezero8617]

As someone on the spectrum and sensative to loud noise, a loud enough fire alarm will cause me to freeze. In college, one dorm I lived in had the alarm volume set way higher than it should have been. Whenever the alarm would go off, all I could really do was cover my ears and sit there as it more or less made my mind go blank. It took a bit to regain the wherewithal to exit, slowing my egress by 2 or 3 minutes, which in an emergency situation is unacceptable. Also, having appropriately volumed fire alarms in elementary, middle, and high school probably would have reduced my anxiety and occasional panic attacks over fire drills; my schools always had those older, louder models.

[@DGTGA2K24]

Honestly though, I think the loud one for old but the quiet one is the newer one

[@AMTK2001]

My middle school had Siemens UMMTs that made us ALL SPRINT OUT OF THE BUILDING

[@achannelwithnopurpose1977]

Bottom line: They need to be able to get your attention and convey the point that an evacuation is needed.

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Correct, and louder devices do not necessarily do that better

[@tylersheehy3918]

ONE TIME I WAS IN 4TH GRADE 2008 I HAD A COLORING ACTIVITEY SO I REACHED FOR MY CRAYONS RIGHT WHEN I TUCH THE BOX THE FIER ALARM WENT OFF SCARED ME

[@TheOriginalR]

Yea I had pretty much the same thing happen to me. Was your classroom had a horn strobe in there or was it only a strobe with a siren sounding over the school intercom?

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Wow

[@chadrowland5234]

I love your videos. Particularly this one. Very true video indeed. However, I have a question. What about when I walk into some buildings that still have Xenon discharge strobes? And what about the newer buildings that have LED strobes? Is there any difference in effective alert with Xenon strobes versus LED strobes?

[@TheOriginalR]

That's another good video topic.

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Xenon strobes are an older technology. LED strobes are becoming more popular as they draw much less power

[@chadrowland5234]

​@@FireAlarmDude5967So, other than technology and efficiency, both are about the same in effectiveness of alert?

[@kansasstatealerting2874]

I remember being driven into a seizure because of a fire alarm. Now I love them lmao. (The seizure was caused by extreme stress)

[@BotvacProductions469]

"okay everyone theres a huge fire in the building and theres no fire exit" "okay we should just stay calm while were stuck inside a burning building with no way out"

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

?

[@BotvacProductions469]

@@FireAlarmDude5967 its what i would do

[@That_2_guy2T]

Nice explanation! I tell obsessed idiots all the time that modern alarms are quiet on purpose. But in general I'd say any alarm after the 60's is effective because by then they had fire lettering and visual signals.

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Thanks!

[@FireAlarm-ni8lf]

I will admit all the fire alarm systems when they first go off are startling my Elementary school had an older 80s system with 2903 light plates with 2901-9838 behind them and they were startling when they would go off considering the fact that they were sounding in continuous however it all changed in middle school and it wasn’t as startling. My middle school had older Siemens Horn strobes, Siemens UMMTs and then just like your high school does my high school had & still has an EST voice Evac System

[@ColaTai]

Dam that place ant never burn down

[@lazyben100]

Hey firealarmdude! Nice video! So recently ive gotten back into fire alarms, and i kind of want a thing thst allows for more function, so im wondering if its possible for a annociater, lets say a fire lite one to be wired to an independsnt system (no panel) with only a pull station and alarm, i currently havr a plug for my power which is the negative source, and another wire for my positive source, so im wondering if its possible for me to ude the fire lite annociator on my system or of i would need a panel or more wires for my annociater to function (appologies for bad spelling my phone is acting weird today lol)

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

An annunciator is a proprietary device that will only work with a panel. You would need a panel to run an annunciator

[@lazyben100]

@FireAlarmDude5967 ah, that sucks. But thank you for the explanation !

[@Aviation129]

1:45 this picture is so cursed 💀

[@Melby185]

In my high school I think one happens but when I dont think it happens

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Aight

[@joshlambeth9200]

cool vid

[@JacksonHaley]

4:26 that is the denver convention center i have gone to the car show there but never heard the alarms before tho

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

That’s Virginia Beach

[@DumbLinuxUser]

I think modern fire alarms should focus on convincing occupants to exit, not to annoy them to exit.

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Right

[@Alwaysdoinit112]

5:19 unlucky. At my school we have all 10" vibrating motor bells and a few System Sensor HW horns. All is very loud and jarring.

[@Zombieplayz222]

the one with the cars the place looks like a place in orlando

[@jomermalabanan7054]

Is that a old simplex 4903-9101 in 2:20

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Probably

[@iluvmerc]

Our schools silent knight voice evac system is a joke with how quiet it is

[@joeycaridi3030]

No we no about that, but now why do electronic horn fire alarms make a warbling high frequency sound that's a broadband frequency sweep tone? I think it's because so the sound travels further because of that tone that sweeps a frequency bandwidth at a very fast rate which prevents any volume fluctuations from its base sound level while it can still have the echo effect to it and that happens from the main frequency sweeping to remain it's effect of staying at the right volume due to the main frequency rapidly playing different frequencies at once and very close together to go faster over a rate where the echo fluctuations the volume to keep the volume consistent regardless of building echo

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Maybe

[@denischen8196]

If someone is wearing noise cancelling headphones and sitting in a position away from other people, will they ignore the fire alarm?

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Probably

[@Sirenfireproductions5209]

Short answer, No Louder fire alarms are not better. Electromechanical fire alarms are already loud enough that they don't pierce someone's ears like the System sensor advance series did back in 2006-2020. And ear piercing alarms contribute to deafness to individual person which is not wanted. Speaker strobes basically beat the Horn strobes at their own game by not being too loud or too quiet. Simply an alarm being really ear piercing loud probably isn't code compliant.

[@EpickGamer6920]

Even as a freshman in high school I get scared of fire alarms

[@ThePurpleMage1]

Certain factories and other loud building actually use Air Horns

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Gotcha

[@DGTGA2K24]

System Test 35 coming soon

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Yep

[@SRN42069]

To me the system needs to be more standardized voice-evac should be in every building including homes, the message itself should be a standard message except if the building has a special configuration. And generally I think we should be putting better systems into homes as well because those cheap residential units are nowhere near the quality of the commercial ones and often have mechanical issues or false alarm a lot. This type of standardization is in places like Japan where even homes have the same Fire Alarm Voice Evac message as in commercial buildings and those alarms and detectors aren't cheap made in China Stuff and rarely have issues. Even some old shrines have the standard message and it has been proven to be more effective then what we have in North America. Example video of the standard message that's being used. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5zRZ4iYetOeiZo

[@rapppss]

This is so PEAK

[@kylespencer1169]

Gentex all the way! Effective!

[@BuildingToursForLife1660-4]

Hi FireAlarmDude! How are you today!

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

I’m great

[@BuildingToursForLife1660-4]

I'm glad to hear that!

[@HarryDoesTech]

7:51 bro why do you have so many fire extingushers?!

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Collect them

[@HarryDoesTech]

@@FireAlarmDude5967 nice, you should do a fire extinguishers tour lol

[@ZacharyHappy366]

1:46 lol

[@WeiMei-t2j]

So why

[@davidbian2466]

If fire alarms are too loud, they can cause unnecessary hearing damage.

[@Halfwaydumber]

Like you know i have a honeywell pull staion

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Ok

[@AustinArt21]

1:46 SEND THIS TO WHEELOVE FIRE ALARMS #whatafirealarmfail

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

It’s not really a fail

[@joeycaridi3030]

00:49 #whatafirealarmfail System Sensor L-Series horn strobe installed outside which is not good because they're not weatherproof and will break down from the high/cold temperatures and high humidity as they should've used a weatherproof SpectrAlert Advance P2RK horn strobe

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Ok

[@neohistoryfan1014]

@@FireAlarmDude5967 I have seen one of those on the exterior of a storage facility in a northern suburb of Akron

[@HydrAlarms_of_CJP_Productions]

1:47 wtf is that setup? LOL

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Speaker on a strobe plate

[@Firebash9]

Hello

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

Howdy

[@elektrokinesis4150]

doesn't show any videos of old horns with sound, boooooooooooo

[@FireAlarmDude5967]

This video isn’t an alarm sounding video

[@J19_vlogger74]

Great video! There's a few videos i would like to point out. The first one is called "FIRE AT MAINVIEW." It can be seen here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b4Gbm6GLhbaljs0si=JqUTS249GikrdqQi. Notice how the loud alarms are not causing an evacuation. This definitely seems to be crowd reaponce in action. The person recording the video hears the alarm, looks to see what's going on and sees nothing unusual apart from the alarm going off. Had he opened the door to a hallway full of people going to the exit, he probably would have followed them. Another video shows quiet alarms causing an evaluation. It's called "Fire Alarm Goes Off at Virginia Beach Convention Center!" It can be seen here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIS5lIlumJubgbssi=L-682RLplS6MuvSh. This is likely because people follow instructions and then the people around them do the same. Calm, orderly evacuations also spread like wildfire.