Fire Alarms in Buildings (2.0)

Alexis_T · May 1, 2026, 1:58pm

For the most part, we always had electronic sounders (and rarely voice evac systems, in larger buildings hooked up to the PA system, this is called a SSS or “Système de Sonorisation de Sécurité”), but from what little info I have way, way back before everything was standardized, it could either be mechanical horns (there was some Simplex 4051s found in France, and I know of a building that still has some, albeit abandonned in place). Sometimes it was mechanical outdoor warning sirens tied to a Masterbox-like system (long gone from all I know, and surviving info about the one in Paris is hard to find), in larger cities such as Paris you’d pull the masterbox, and it would activate a siren fitted with a coding damper at the nearest fire station and in smaller cities there was a call point on the city hall that was directly hooked up to the siren (matter of fact, I live near two towns that still have this system, Laigneville and Coye-la-Forêt) which would alert the nearby fire station.

I only have one such picture of a “siren call point” that I took in Mouy, I have not dared checking if it’s still active or not! (Mouy’s fire station has changed location, but the plaque shows the old address)

I can’t really speak for other parts of Europe besides UK (I used to watch a lot of UK fire alarm system videos too), but I trust @Croatian_fire_alarms can.

The UK has a mix of sounder, bells and sirens (yes, sirens, infamously the Gents of Leicester 1500 “the Strident”, I also have one in my collection) whereas in France it’s all standardized electronic sounders.

aerhardt · May 1, 2026, 9:06pm

I’d hope that it’s active. Otherwise, they should really remove that plaque and button. If someone tries to report a fire using that, and it doesn’t work, things could go very badly.

Elijah_Cooper · May 1, 2026, 10:28pm

Radcliff Police Department (Radcliff, KY)

What I Saw Is A Unknown Horn On A 2903-9101 Light Plate And It Was Flush Mounted

Belk (Elizabethtown, KY)

There Are Several White Ceiling Mounted Spectralert Advance Horn Strobes Throught The Store

But There Were No Pulls

JCPenney (Elizabethtown, KY)

Outside The Salon Is A Red Autocall Bell

There Was Also A Bosch Annunciator Next To The Back Exit

Ralphie’s Fun Center (Glasgow, KY)

There Is A Notifier Annunciator At The Entrance

The Alarms Are Wall And Ceiling Mount Red Spectralert Advance Horn Strobes

The Pulls Are Notifier NBG-12LX

Rural King (Elizabethtown, And Glasgow KY Locations)

Both Have Honeywell Fire Annunciators

Both Have Fire Lite BG-12LX

The Elizabethtown Location Has Red Celling Mount Spectralert Advance Horn Strobes

While The Glasgow Has Red Ceiling Mount L-Series Horn Strobes

Best Buy (Okolona Location In Louisville, KY)

The Pulls Are Simplex 4099-9001

The Alarms Were Simplex Early Truealert (Quickalert) Wall Mount On The Ceiling They Are Horn Strobes

Dillard’s (Jefferson Mall, Louisville KY)

There Are No Pulls…….Sigh

The Alarms Are A Mix Of White Celling Mounted Spectralert Classic Horn Strobes

And Wheelock MT-24-LSM

And At Least A Red Wall Mount L-Series Horn Strobe That Replaced A Broken MT

Where Ya Bin (Formerly Bargain Hunt That Replaced Sears)

The Pulls Are Edwards SIGA-278

The Alarms Are White Wall Mount Edwards Genesis Horn Strobes Without The Fire Lettering

Former Big Lots (Southwest Louisville, KY)

There Was A Fire Lite ANN-80 Annunciator At The Check Out

No Pulls

The Alarms Are White Ceiling Mount L-Series Horn Strobes

TheCarson116 · May 1, 2026, 10:36pm

Would you please make use of proper punctation, including commas, periods, & not capitalizing every single word? The rest of us would greatly appreciate it.

Alexis_T · May 2, 2026, 3:37am

Agreed. Though I recall the small grey rectangle above the button was a speaker/microphone assembly of some kind, maybe they repurposed it as an intercom? I haven’t set foot in Mouy since 4 years, so my memory is a bit hazy on this detail… I’ll have to go back there and check.

Though if it’s indeed not an intercom, I’ll forward that concern to the Mouy city hall, but as far as I know, if it were active, I would probably guess they would’ve removed it either way due to the potential of abuse.

Oh and fun fact, if you look up the address on the plaque, it leads to a gate that leads to some commercial building, the Mouy fire station itself moved elsewhere a long time ago (I’d guess somewhere in the 70s or 80s).

I believe some German fire stations also have a similar system, but I don’t have any more information other than that.

Anyways, I found some pics of my hometown’s city hall alarm system, I didn’t check if there was any sounders though.

First is the Nugelec (this one is new enough to be a Eaton branded one) panel, that replaced an earlier Merlin Gerin type 4 panel, second the original merlin gerin call point (which amazingly uses a glass pane rather than a membrane!) and finally a Legrand emergency shutoff station (break glass + button push) which is used to cut off power to the building in an emergency.

Merlin Gerin fire alarm systems were pretty common in my hometown, along with Legrand, but nowadays it seems that Nugelec/Eaton has slowly started popping up left and right, with the occasional Chubb system thrown in.

aerhardt · May 2, 2026, 3:59am

That’s pretty interesting. I’ve never heard of anything like that before. Is that more common in France?

It’s also interesting to hear that Legrand makes fire alarm systems. They are one of the most common brands for electrical devices, such as outlets and switches in North America, but they don’t sell their fire alarm systems over here. Their electrical products do seem to be some of the highest quality in my experience, though, so hopefully the same can be said for their fire alarm systems, and their French market products. They are a French company, right?

Here are some examples of some new Legrand products that I installed in my grandparents’ house a few months ago:

This one has been doing its job well for over 32 years, and will likely continue to for decades to come:

Here’s a new 20 amp switch that we never actually used still in its box:

Tesla_railfaning · May 2, 2026, 12:11pm

Ceasers Palace Alantic City, HUGE variety, theres some more cool stuff here.

Tesla_railfaning · May 2, 2026, 12:14pm

listen, ALOT of variety, this is all on a 4100ES.

JingzFireAlarms · May 2, 2026, 3:38pm

This is the EST Quickstart QS4 in my school accompanied by a booster power supply and a battery cabinet.

Tesla_railfaning · May 2, 2026, 3:46pm

Nice! What A/Vs? And what year did the system get installed?

JingzFireAlarms · May 2, 2026, 3:55pm

All bells (including Edwards, GS, and Simplex), some with EST Integrity strobe plates, and an Integrity horn outside used as a FDC beacon.

aerhardt · May 2, 2026, 3:55pm

I love this system. It reminds me an awful lot of this system: Fire Alarms in Buildings (2.0) - #2840 by aerhardt

JingzFireAlarms · May 2, 2026, 3:59pm

Elijah_Cooper · May 2, 2026, 7:07pm

Why is there 1 TrueAlert

Tesla_railfaning · May 2, 2026, 8:02pm

theres tons of truealerts in the hotel.

Elevatorfan19 · May 2, 2026, 8:42pm

give that cover a little nudge on the last image, it does not look installed right lol.

NOTIFIER · May 2, 2026, 9:46pm

Rush-Ohio-Wabash Parking Garage Chicago

Seems like the parking garage has an old FCI system, with a quite interesting annunciator which is why I included it. Pulls were FCI MS-2s and the signals were Gentex GOS horn strobes.

Uniqlo Chicago

Autocall 4100ES system. This might be the first Autocall system I’ve seen. Signals were Wheelock Eluxa speaker strobes, and smokes are TrueAlarms.

Marshalls Chicago

I’m not sure what brand this system is. There were no smokes, even for recall, and no pulls. There were Wheelock Eluxa speaker strobes, and some of the older ET-series vandal resistant speaker strobes. There were also a ton of “STAIRS” exit signs.

Eataly Chicago

Simplex system, Wheelock E90 speaker strobes. No annunciator or panel visible.

The09Creeper · May 3, 2026, 1:18am

So I found two of this weird duct detectors (Only have a picture of one) in a mechanical room, it’s just out in the open. For this one there is exhaust fans on the other side of the room, I have more photos of the whole system in University of Hartford fire alarm systems Harry Jackson Gray Center

Alexis_T · May 3, 2026, 2:42am

It’s not that common these days but but you can sometimes find them from time to time. Often it’s one call point for each floor to cut the power on the affected floor, but rarely it shuts power to the while building (though that’s rare). However in buildings with a central HVAC system it’s actually required.

They also make exit signs, and if I recall has the first exit signs with built-in self-diagnostic functions. Though their fire division has an interest history in itself (not to mention URA which is one of Legrands subdivisions but more focused on emergency lighting and exit signs).

They are, their larger panels despite being high end are surprisingly not that proprietary (just ring the customer service up and they’ll gladly give you the programming software for their larger panels, that is if you’re a licensed electrician! And they use Apollo XP95 protocol on the adressable panels, conventional panels are all programmed through the front panel) electrical-equipement wise though, they’ve got they’re well regarded, horrendously expensive though but I hear mostly positive things, all things considered. Stateside though, I recall they bought off an existing company which I recall had “Seymour” (maybe Pass & Seymour?) in its name… (kind of reminds me how Schneider Electric bought Square-D)

Now, I know they’re looking to reconsolidate their fire alarm branch, so things might change around.

Yup and yup, they were founded in the late 1800s in Limoges (I can’t really find a better English source, sorry), originally they made porcelain things, but gradually started transitioning into electrical equipment.

(as I write this, I just remembered I have a brand new in box, two-loop Type 4 Legrand panel… oh, how funny coincidences can be)

aerhardt · May 3, 2026, 4:10am

That can’t be up to code at all, right?