Innovative fire alarm system set to give elderly citizens peace of mind
Print Edition
THOUSANDS of homes in Minhang District have been fitted with a high-tech fire alarm system in a bid to improve people’s safety, the local fire bureau said yesterday.
Over the past three months, wireless networks have been installed free of charge in 87 apartment buildings at 12 complexes across Minhang, Zhou Meilan, a spokesman for the local fire department told Shanghai Daily.
“As well as being directly connected to a central control panel in the security guards’ office, all the alarms (one per apartment) are linked to one another,” Zhou said.
“So if a sensor detects smoke or fire in one property, the alarms will sound in every other apartment in that building,” he said.
Meanwhile, a light indicating the source of the alarm will be illuminated on the central panel, and a spoken message will be broadcast to the guards, he said.
In addition, the nominated emergency contact for the property in which the alarm first sounded will receive a short text message on their mobile phone informing them of the incident, he said.
“The system is the first of its kind in Shanghai,” Zhou said.
While he declined to say if such networks — all of which were paid for by the district government — will be installed in all residential buildings, he said that the properties selected on this occasion were considered “the most in need” as they were in a poor state of repair and home to many elderly residents.
As well as the new “smart” system, fire officers have installed regular smoke alarms in a further 6,200 properties occupied either by senior citizens living alone or people with physical disabilities.
They have also fitted automatic sprinkler systems in 29 other residential buildings, Zhou said.
Jiang Linyong, an elderly man who lives alone in one of the apartments fitted with the new smart system, said he was skeptical about the idea at first, but soon changed his mind.
“Initially, I didn’t want the alarm in my home,” he said.
“But then one day I was cooking a meal and just wandered away from the kitchen for a while. I sat down and started reading, and totally forgot I’d left a pan on the stove.
“It was only when the alarm went off I realized what was happening. I went back to the kitchen and it was full of smoke. If I hadn’t had heard the beeping, it could have been a lot worse,” he said.
According to official figures, 44 percent of all fires reported in Minhang over the past three years were in the home.
“Smoke alarms can be a little oversensitive at times, going off due to a bit too much cooking smoke. But they also save lives, and we hope people will follow our message that it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Zhou said.
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