This service call started with a complaint from a tenant in a shopping mall about a "beeping" sound from above the suspended ceiling. Here's what I found when I moved a tile:

A view from another angle. Hey! That looks like a Mircom inspection tag!

It IS a Mircom inspection tag!

This happens to be attached to a Pyrene 4000 (formerly Chubb 3000) releasing panel. Interesting to note that the individual whose ASTTBC stamp this happens to be ISN'T certified in the "SP" (Suppression System) discipline, but this isn't what drew our attention to this installation. Thank goodness that the actual verifying agency (in this case Stewart Fire Prevention) is no longer in business and won't be signing off on any more installations like this.

Can anyone tell me what person in his right mind would install a fire alarm panel ABOVE a suspended ceiling (and mount it on a wall over twelve feet from the floor!), let alone VERIFY it? I sure can't! It violates every rule in the book, not to mention some key elements of the ASTTBC annual inspection form (which, incidentally, must be used in Richmond). And THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is at the crux of what I view as a significant error on the part of this Mircom technician. Failure to recognize an incorrectly installed fire alarm panel is NOT the mark of of a Registered Fire Protection Technician (RFPT) let alone someone on the Vancouver List of Qualified Verifiers. An apprentice could make this mistake, but I think this error points to a more serious issue:

Mircom's technician training program just might be in serious need of an overhaul.

More Burning Brick Nominations!