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Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) - The New Technology in Detecting Fires?

Although I have yet to find anything specific in the NFPA 72 concerning the usage of CCTV technology as a way of detecting smoke or even fires, I know from having spent many years in the security industry that CCTV could one day become a feasible solution.

How does this video technology work?

Most of the modern CCTV systems sold today have built-in computer technology for detecting changes in video frames. This is simply done by having the computer software monitor the screen for pixelization changes.

It is set up by using a mouse, highlighting targeted areas on a video screen and clicking/dragging a box onto specific areas of the screen.

For example, If your target happens to be a laptop computer and you wish to monitor just that particular item in the room, you could simply highlight the area on a CCTV software’s computer screen and set up an alarm to occur if changes are made in that designated area. So, if someone were to remove the laptop in the monitored area, an alarm would be triggered.

In the same way a laptop (or any object, for that matter) can be monitored, so then can one also monitor an area for fire or smoke.

Disclaimer: I’m not making any recommendation for anyone reading this article to use their CCTV security system as a substitute for an approved fire alarm system.

As far as I know, it is not yet recommended nor is it allowed by NFPA fire alarm codes. My point is that today’s video technology is advanced enough where it might be a viable solution for detecting fires in the the near future.

If you have five minutes, check out the video below to get a better understanding of where this CCTV technology is going to detect smoke and fires in locations that are being monitored by CCTV systems.

Need more information on how to use your CCTV system as a tool to protect and monitor specific areas in your business? Simply fill out our contact form or give one of our security specialists a quick telephone call. Houston Fire Safety is here to serve you.

Filed Under: Fire Alarms In The News
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