Tampa Fire Inspections, Testing, & Certification

NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) Codes are standards that were created through the consensus process. These codes are complex and updated on a regular basis every few years. Florida further complicates the national fire and life safety codes by tweaking them. Furthermore, local fire marshals have the authority to further tweak the code according to how they interpret it. Every fire inspector has their own interpretation.

Florida Alarm has the expertise to work with your specific fire marshal or fire inspector to keep your fire alarms, fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, and other fire suppression systems up to code and affordable.

Maintaining fire-protection features is critically important for fire and life safety within buildings. Fire-protection systems' and results' reports are required by all national codes and standards, likely by your insurance carrier.

Fire-protection and fire-alarm systems have become more complex and technical in the past decade. Many county or city fire inspectors lack the expertise in these systems, and have to rely on highly trained field personnel (i.e. fire contractor) for support.

If a county or city fire inspector finds problems, they will spend more time checking additional equipment. It is better to make sure that any equipment the county or city fire inspector checks has been properly inspected and maintained.

While many people look at the fire- and life-safety inspection process negatively, these inspections benefit the building/business owners, as well as those who use the building, by offering:

• A safer working/living environment for employees/residents.
• A safer building for unfamiliar occupants (visitors, shoppers, clients, etc.)
• Business and job security. Up to 80 percent of all small businesses that experience a large fire never reopen: this not only affects the building/business owner, but also results in the loss of all jobs. Of the businesses that do reopen, many lose much of their customer base do to prolonged absence of production or service.
• A better maintained building for improved resale value. It is common place for buyers to hire a company to inspect the building prior to purchase to identify potential hidden costs related to fire and life safety
• A possible reduction in insurance premiums. Some items may be required by both the fire department marshal and insurance carrier, such as annual fire-sprinkler and fire –alarm inspections verifying proper system maintenance. Many insurance carriers give business premium reductions for properly installed and maintained fire-protection systems.