Fire Alarm Systems
Test Development and Supporting Organizations

The Institute designed this popular program with a committee of industry experts: Ronald Kirby, Manager of Building Systems Products (Fire Alarms) and Marketing of the Simplex Time Recorder Company in Gardner, Massachusetts; Wayne D. Moore, the President of the Massachusetts Fire Alarms of New England Company in Lowell, Massachusetts; James C. Roberts, P.E., Code Consultant (Fire Protection Systems Engineer) for the North Carolina Department of Insurance, State Property Division in Raleigh, North Carolina; Dean K. Wilson, Research Consultant for Industrial Risk Insurers in Hartford, Connecticut; and Charles E. Zimmerman, P.E., a self-employed fire protection engineer.

Through a practice analysis, the committee identified fire alarm systems engineering technicians' job tasks and responsibilities and categorized them into work elements. Volunteers then submitted and reviewed examination questions for each of the work elements.

After a field test was completed, the program became operational in 1988. A technical advisory committee whose membership consists of a broad cross-section of the industry from across the country provides continued technical guidance. The members represent a variety of stakeholder organizations including alarm manufacturers, equipment distributors, independent contractors, engineering firms, authorities having jurisdiction, and trade associations including but not limited to the Automatic Fire Alarm Association, the National Association of Fire Equipment Distributors, the National Association of State Fire Marshals, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, the National Fire Protection Association and the Society of Fire Protection Engineers.