A
fire alarm system is number of devices working together to detect and warn people through visual and audio appliances when
smoke,
fire,
carbon monoxide or other
emergencies are present. These alarms may be activated from
smoke detectors, and
heat detectors. Alarms can be either motorised bells or wall mountable sounders or horns. They can also be speaker strobes which sound an alarm, followed by a voice evacuation message which usually state in the lines of "Attention, Attention. A fire emergency has been reported. Please leave the building via the nearest exit. DO NOT use
elevators!" They may also be activated via
Manual fire alarm activation devices such as manual call points or pull stations. Fire alarm sounders can be set to certain frequencies and different tones including low, medium and high depending on the country and manufacturer of the device. Most fire alarm systems in
Europe sound like a siren with alternating frequencies. Fire alarm sounders in the
United States can be either continuous or set to different codes such as Code 3. Fire alarm warning devices can also be set to different volume levels. Smaller buildings may have the alarm set to a lower volume and larger buildings may have alarms set to a higher level.