Alarm System Monitoring (24/7)

Fire alarm and security alarm monitoring can give you information you need, remotely! If your system goes into alarm, the system will call an operator at our 24-hour call center. Then the operator will call the fire department (or police dept.) and then start calling your list of contacts. They will keep calling until they reach a live person, or until they’ve exhausted the list. They will leave messages for any contacts where voice messaging is available. Rates are very reasonable, for the information and peace of mind that it affords you, but exact rates will depend on type, brand, and specifics of your system.

For a rate quote, please fill out the Contact Us form, here …

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Remote Monitoring Notes:

Here are some notes on how to handle different situations, so that your managers know how to respond.

1.  Actual fire, fire alarm goes into ALARM (horns and strobe lights going off) – Response: Evacuate building and wait for fire department.  If the panel will not reset, after the fire department has put out the fire, call American Alarms at 266-9888.  After hours, you will get our automated attendant, which will then page a technician “on call”- be sure to leave a number where you can be called back immediately.

2.  Fire alarm system in ALARM, tenant calls and says it’s a false alarm – Response: Evacuate building and wait for fire department.  Unless you have a manager that can verify the situation, you don’t want that liability.  If the fire department can’t reset the alarm panel to NORMAL, call American Alarms at 266-9888.  After hours, you will get our automated attendant, which will then page a technician “on call”- be sure to leave a number where you can be reached immediately.

3.  Fire alarm system in ALARM, caused by remodeling or testing in the building (manager is aware) – Response: Call the central station at to try and stop the fire department dispatch.  The central station will ask for your account number and “false alarm code” (password).  Your account number may be written inside the fire alarm panel door.  If you don’t know your password/fals alarm code, please call American Alarms now to get it (before you need it).  The response should ONLY be taken if you absolutely KNOW the cause of the alarm and can verify that no other sources may have triggered it.

4.  Fire alarm system in ALARM, due to fire sprinkler water flow – Response: Allow fire department to respond and shut-off the sprinkler main water supply.  Please DO NOT shut off this water supply on your own.  This is a huge liability, and most fire departments can also fine you for doing this before they get there.  The fire department will check to make sure there are no open sprinkler heads (actual fires), too.  Once the water is shut off, call your fire sprinkler contractor for repair of any leaks or heads.  Once the fire sprinkler repair is complete, you may need American Alarms to come test or reset the fire alarm panel to normal.

5.  Fire alarm panel is “beeping” but no horns or strobes are going off – Response: This is a TROUBLE condition, cause by any number of conditions on the system.  Some common problems are:

- Shorts due to water on an outsdie horn/strobe or pull station in breezeways

- Tenant removed horn or sounder because it was annoying them

- Lightning from a storm caused electrical surges in the system (and usually damage)

- An ALARM sounded and was silenced but never RESET.  This will cause a TROUBLE on the panel that needs to be addressed.

- The telephone line that the panel calls out on, has low voltage, was cut, deactivated (to save money), or otherwise missing

- Dirty smoke detectors

- Condensation is entering the back of detectors from the attic, due to cold and hot air meeting in the back-box

6.  The central station calls one of your listed contacts and reports a SUPERVISORY signal, like fire sprinkler tamper switch or sounder base relay.  Response: Check the property as soon as possible for unusual conditions.  These signals are NOT an emergency, but do require follow-up.  If you have any question of what the reported message means, or think you need help to correct a problem that causes a continuing SUPERVISORY signal (contact list gets calls 3 days or more in a row for the same signal), then call American Alarms to come and figure out the problem to get the system back to NORMAL.

Basic info for central station reports:

-  Calls should come to contact list within minutes of received signal at the central station

-  There are 3 types of signals – ALARM, TROUBLE, and SUPERVISORY

- ALARM calls are most urgent, but fire department will be dispatched before contact list gets called

- TROUBLE signals are usually “next day service” urgent, but not “middle of the night” service urgent – in most cases a TROUBLE on your system will not keep the panel from sending an ALARM properly

- SUPERVISORY signals are usually “same week service” urgent, but many times we like to see them continue for 3 consecutive days to make sure they “lock-in”

- We can give the central station special instructions to only notify on TROUBLE and SUPERVISORY signals 8AM-5PM weekdays, otherwise they notify when the signal is received

- We can request printed reports for any period of time (in the last 6 months anyway), if there is a question of what was reported to them