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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20985097
A fire alarm system wasn’t installed in the building because experts did not consider it necessary.
A new fire station in Germany that was destroyed in a fire, causing millions of euros in damage, did not have a fire alarm system.
The fire broke out early Wednesday morning at the Stadtallendorf fire station in Hesse and destroyed the equipment hall and almost a dozen emergency vehicles, according to local media.
Initial estimates put the damage at between €20 million and €24 million. No one was injured.
Local officials told the German news agency dpa that no fire alarm system was installed in the building because experts had considered it not necessary — much to the astonishment of many observers now that the station has burned down.
Lol wut? Aren’t there formal requirements for the presence of fire alarms in any kind of building?
There are, but do you know who checks that a building is OK? Take a guess.
Geoff?
Building inspectors
No. This always comes back to the electrical engineer under the IBC (unless specifically authorized by a govt official usually a Fire Marshal, an inspector doesn’t actually have the authority), and the building should have had detectors in the sleeping quarters regardless of any other factors. I wouldn’t want to be the engineer on this project, even if they had correct drawing per IBC that were overruled. It’s going to be bad for them either way.
Unfortunately the article doesn’t specify the “experts”. Whoever signed that dotted line is pretty much screwed.
Requirements often depend on the type of building occupancy and the chance of fire spread to neighboring buildings.