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A Central Monitoring Station (CMS) is a relay station. It relays (re-transmits) fire alarms from automatic fire alarm systems in buildings on to the fire department. The CMS (Central Monitoring Station) also relays other types of signals from the automatic fire alarms systems to the owners of the building.
The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) makes sure the communication system works from the building or premises being protected by an automatic fire alarm system to the fire department’s dispatch center.
Central Monitoring Station – Needed to Sort Automatic Calls
The fire department is there to rush to burning buildings to save lives and to control and extinguish fires. This is their primary purpose. Calls like “The fire sprinkler system is turned off” (Supervisory) or “The batteries need replacing” (Trouble with the fire alarm system) are not emergency calls and only distract the firefighters from their primary purpose.
While the automatic fire detection and alarm system in a building will call about any fires it has detected, the problem is that it will also call if something compromises the fire alarm system. To prevent the fire department from getting a flurry of non-emergency phone calls, someone is needed to sort out the emergency calls for the fire department from the non-emergency calls for the building owners.
To do the sorting, the Central Monitoring Station is in the chain of communication. Whenever an automatic fire alarm system calls the fire alarm monitoring station with an emergency message, the CMS immediately contacts the fire department to dispatch the trucks. Whenever an automatic fire alarm system calls the CMS with a non-emergency message, the CMS verifies the non-emergency call with someone on-site or someone on a call list. So that a technician can be dispatched to fix anything that’s not right with the automatic fire alarm system, the Central Monitoring Station may also call the fire alarm service company.
The Central Monitoring Station also keeps records of the calls from the building’s automatic fire alarm system.
A Central Monitoring Station (CMS) is a relay station. It relays (re-transmits) fire alarms from automatic fire alarm systems in buildings on to the fire department. The CMS (Central Monitoring Station) also relays other types of signals from the automatic fire alarms systems to the owners of the building.
The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) makes sure the communication system works from the building or premises being protected by an automatic fire alarm system to the fire department’s dispatch center.
Central Monitoring Station – Needed to Sort Automatic Calls
The fire department is there to rush to burning buildings to save lives and to control and extinguish fires. This is their primary purpose. Calls like “The fire sprinkler system is turned off” (Supervisory) or “The batteries need replacing” (Trouble with the fire alarm system) are not emergency calls and only distract the firefighters from their primary purpose.
While the automatic fire detection and alarm system in a building will call about any fires it has detected, the problem is that it will also call if something compromises the fire alarm system. To prevent the fire department from getting a flurry of non-emergency phone calls, someone is needed to sort out the emergency calls for the fire department from the non-emergency calls for the building owners.
To do the sorting, the Central Monitoring Station is in the chain of communication. Whenever an automatic fire alarm system calls the fire alarm monitoring station with an emergency message, the CMS immediately contacts the fire department to dispatch the trucks. Whenever an automatic fire alarm system calls the CMS with a non-emergency message, the CMS verifies the non-emergency call with someone on-site or someone on a call list. So that a technician can be dispatched to fix anything that’s not right with the automatic fire alarm system, the Central Monitoring Station may also call the fire alarm service company.
The Central Monitoring Station also keeps records of the calls from the building’s automatic fire alarm system.
Approved by the Fire Department of New York (FDNY)
Between the automatic fire alarm system in a building and the fire department’s dispatch center, the Central Monitoring Station is part of the chain of communication. To make sure the Central Monitoring Station will re-transmit fire alarms correctly and promptly, the FDNY requires that the CMS registers with the FDNY.
Because the central monitoring station is part of the emergency communication system for reporting fires, the FDNY also governs the maintenance of the CMS facilities. Before issuing a Certificate of Operation, the FDNY inspects the CMS facilities to make sure the facility will operate correctly. The FDNY also requires continued listing or approval by a nationally recognized testing laboratory (like Underwriters Laboratory {UL}) and the testing laboratory will also inspect the facilities regularly and require proper record-keeping by the CMS.
Once the Central Monitoring Station is certified by the FDNY, all individual fire alarm systems that the CMS is monitoring have to also be approved by, and sometimes be inspected by the FDNY. This inspection is to make sure the automatic fire alarm system will properly protect the building or premises.
FDNY Approved Central Monitoring Station
As part of the chain of communication, the Central Monitoring Station relays (re-transmits) alarm signals from a building’s automatic fire alarm system to the fire department. The Central Monitoring Station, being part of the communication chain, has to be approved by the FDNY.
We Offer the Best Central Station Fire Alarm System Monitoring Service in NYC. Our Partner Central Station is Approved by New York City’s FDNY and is UL Listed.
Upgrade to GSM communicator and save up to $1200 per year on old plain telephone lines (POTS).
Fire Alarm Systems we can Monitor
Fire Alarm Monitoring FAQs
This offends happens when there is not enough or any voltage on the phones lines. In other words, the phone lines are not working and not properly sending signals to the CS. Installing GSM technology can help you avoid this costly failures. Call ASM now as obtain a Free estimate. Mention the Q&A and obtain a 20% discount and the first 3 months of GSM signals for FREE.
This report is a detailed log of all the activity that took place between the fire alarm central station and fire alarm control panel.
When phone lines or any method path of communication fails for any reason these are likely to show as Fault Lines and/or fail to communicate.
All fire alarm systems are designed by the manufacturer to system sends automatic daily test.
Only those people that have been provided with the to the Central station pass-code by the subscribers can set the system offline.
In the event of an alarm, a supervisory or a fire alarm signal the central station will contact you in the order in which you had provided the contacts.
Like in any other business, discounts and promotions are tied to commitment. However, at ASM we offer monthly FDNY approved m central station monitoring on a month to month bases.
No, it does not. Regardless the size of the building, fire alarm monitoring, and central station monitoring are the same.
Setting the system online and offline comes with a level of responsibility. Ultimately, if the system is set offline and there is a fire the fire department WILL NOT BE DISPATCHED. Furthermore, keeping a log of who and when as well as identifying this person as an authorized personnel for the building is key.
The average MSRP of an FDNY Approved central station monitoring is $95.00 per month.
Supervisory: This fire alarm signal type is related to the supervision of certain field components. As an example the opening and the closing of the Sprinkler valve.- Trouble: This fire alarm signal is typical of a device malfunctions.
- Alarm: This fire alarm signal is caused by the activation of a fire alarm component such as a smoke detector, heat detector a manual pull station, a duct detector on any other.
Supervisory: This 
Call ASM at 212-202-2565 and one of our fire alarm consultants will assist you free of charge.
Proprietary in the fire alarm industry is known as “Only me the certified xyz manufacturer can service the system.This is a very confusing topic and subject to hours of discussion. However, many fire alarm vendors want you to believe that they are the only solution in town. Fortunately this is not the case. Any vendor can work on any system as long as they are certified with the district, city or state in which they do business. Even though there could be limitations to perform certain tasks, if the fire alarm company is a well reputable provider then they will likely be able to provide you with a ONE STOP SOLUTION.
Simply give as a call at 212-202-2565 and one of our experts fire alarm consultants will guide you through and provide you a free estimate.
This may very from town to town and its jurisdiction. However, the most common ones are:
- POTS (plain old telephone system)
- GSM (wireless)
- Ethernet
- Radio
NO. Once an approval is given to a fire alarm system by the fire department the signal should never be interrupted for any reason regardless if the space is no longer occupied.
Some systems are capable of transmitting more details than others. For example: those systems with a built-in dialer are capable of transmitting CID (contact ID) which in other words mean that each device can send signals to central station. Then if you have 200 smokes, each sends over its own name and location over to CS. this is known as built in dialer. On the other hand, a communicator has only between 5 to 10 zones and send a generic signal such as trouble, supervisory, alarm, phone line troubles etc but lacks the ability to send one signal per field device
In order to avoid the fire department being dispatched to your site its imperative to put the systems offline. All fire alarm systems should be put offline right before any work is being performed on the system itself, any interconnected system such as sprinklers, HVAC are worked on or any construction or cleaning is to be performed at the building that could trigger an unwarranted fire alarm signal.
Fire alarm systems should go offline when any testing, inspections or repairs are being done at the facility to avoid dispatching FDNY unnecessarily. The set the system offline you can call or if you are with ASM integrators we offer an APP to do it from the convenience of your phone.
The maximum time allowed is 8 hours. If you then need to extend the time them the process stars again for a maximum of another 8 hours and so on.
The answer to this question in NO. No matter who the company is in NYC they can not promote or advertise themselves as being faster. The FDNY dispatches at its own timing and not on who called.
No, they are not. Even though the end service is to call 911 and dispatch the fire department, each company has its own protocols above the minimum requirements. Furthermore, customer service and its response time can be key players at the time to select the central station monitoring.
No, NYC requires that only FDNY pre approved central stations can monitor fire alarm systems within the 5 boroughs. This services are normally MSRP anywhere between $90 & $125 per month. When you call any company, simply asked if the monitoring is or not FDNY approved to avoid any violations.
It is mandatory by FDNY that your fire alarm system is monitored via central station.
About ASM Integrators
For 20+ years, we have provided 2,096+ New York building owners and managers with fire alarm solutions, business security, communication and auxiliary radio communication systems.
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We care about our clients and their safety, and make it our business to serve as an advisor in this complex and constantly changing industry.
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ASM Integrators is a New York State licensed, FDNY Approved, and certified MBE focused on solving the increasingly complex security, fire, data and audio/visual challenges faced by businesses, general contractors and commercial real-estate developers at the time of awarding a contract.
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