Colored Lenses, Fire Lettering, and Signal Confusion

Fire Alarm General Discussion
1

Why do they sell devices that have colored lenses but have fire lettering. With it being against code to have fire alarm devices with colored strobes, what’s the point of even selling them with colored strobes. I would think that they would only want to sell devices that have colored strobes that have no fire lettering.

Example:

Similarly, I think that they should remove the ability for mass notification devices (aka with non fire lettering or colored strobes) to be able to sound code 3. I have seen too many scenarios where alarms that are not meant to be used as fire alarms are set on code 3.

Example:
This alarm is being used to warn of cars coming out of the parking garage.
https://youtu.be/aJq6CbAKkLs?si=SLKntXmjSJEPUOMt

One more thing:
I think that Wheelock should stop producing the eluxa devices that can do the temporal 3/4 mode with fire lettering. I think that they should disable this functionality on devices with fire lettering. This is a problem because the strobes that are labeled “FIRE” are flashing in a CO event. This could cause a lot of confusion.

Example:

The fire lettering situation should be considered with speaker strobes as well. I think that speaker strobes should have separate strobes for alert signals or no fire lettering at all. This would help to reduce confusion in a case where non-fire information is coming from a device that is clearly marked “FIRE”. This is relevant even if the strobe is not active while a non-fire message is being played.

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2

Maybe that’s asking too much of companies. Especially considering that the mass notification variant of any alarm is exactly the same except for the lens color. The AHJ checks installation anyway, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

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All very good points: I myself am all for notification appliances being required to be labeled, even if it’s not currently required by NFPA 72: how else will most people know what the NA is indicating if it’s not labeled? (especially hearing-impaired individuals who will only be able to see the strobe flashing (if the signal has one) but likely not know what it means. If the device has “FIRE” on it though they’ll know it’s indicating a fire in progress & to evacuate)

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To further this, mass notification should be labeled either on the device or a nearby sign. If, say, a green-strobed device with no label was flashing, how would you know what it meant? it could be something bad, but you would not be able to tell since it isn’t labeled.

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