By a unanimous vote in closed session, the Calgary City Council has approved a directive that takes the monitoring of fire alarms out of private hands and puts the city’s fire department in the central station business. With the approval of the “Direct Protect” program, a new monitoring service run by the Calgary Fire Department (CFD) will replace private central station monitoring of fire alarm systems.
The May 3 move follows an attempt by the Canadian Security Association (CANASA) to delay the vote until further information could be provided by the security industry. While still going ahead with the vote, the council did agree to direct the CFD to work with the security industry to ease any concerns about the new policy, according to CANASA.
The CFD cites a need to reduce time as reasoning behind the Direct Protect program. The CFD also says as part of its monitoring efforts, it will install smoke detectors it says will reduce false alarms. The CFD will monitor residential and commercial systems within the 911-call center for a monthly fee.
