Able to detect, identify, and analyze smoke at the first sign of fire or flame, video fire detectors (VFD) enable a fast response to a potential fire. A new ISO technical specification on VFDs will help to ensure more efficient and reliable equipment.

ISO/TS 7240-29:2017, Fire detection and alarm systems – Part 29: Video fire detectors, specifies requirements, test methods and performance criteria for video fire detectors operating in the visible spectrum, for use in fire detection and alarm systems installed in and around buildings. The standard provides the first platform for international acceptance of a uniform specification related to VFDs.

ISO/TS 7240-29:2017 was prepared by technical committee ISO/TC 21, Equipment for fire protection and fire fighting, subcommittee SC 3, Fire detection and alarm systems.

Speaking of the standard, ISO/TC 21/SC 3 Chair Keith Shinn said “In large open compartments, it can remove the delay in smoke traveling to the detector and result in a quicker response by emergency services.

“It can also permit smoke detection in harsh environments where it may otherwise be impractical,” Shinn added.

ISO/TC 21/SC 3 Convenor Isaac Papier added that industrial fire detection serves two vital functions.

“First in preventing loss of the facility, but actually, more importantly, in providing a fast response such that operation is not interrupted resulting in severe revenue loss,” Papier said.

Facility owners, insurance carriers, and manufacturers stand to benefit directly from the new technical specification.

“ISO/TS 7240-29 provides owners and insurance carriers with the international consensus metrics for performance of VFDs,” Papier said. “Manufacturers will benefit because the existence of the technical specification gives users and specifiers the confidence to include VFDs in their fire protection schemes, creating a market for these products. For manufacturers, the technical specification provides a design specification for building the products.”

“The community at large should be the greatest beneficiary of the release of this technical specification,” Shinn added. “It now has the opportunity for enhanced protection of life safety at reduced cost. The closed-circuit television sector is the fastest-growing segment of the security industry and the synergy with life safety cannot be ignored.”

ISO/TC 21/SC 3 recognizes that a number of questions will still need to be answered and this would be best achieved by gaining practical experience from the industry using the specification, which is hoped to be converted to a standard in the future.