KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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comments on Commercial fire with no AHJ requirements; what's exposure / AIN contract sale
January 26, 2026
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comments on Commercial fire with no AHJ requirements; what's exposure from article on January 16, 2026
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Ken,
There are always requirements. The minimum is NFPA 72 if there are no local published requirements. By following the NFPA you can confidently state that THE code was followed if there is ever an incident. By the way, we have found that when you bring the proposal for a NFPA system to the table the client figures out that fire is not needed.
Thank You
Wayne Ohlemeier
CTO / VP of Quality Control
Pye-Barker Fire & Safety
Everett, WA
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Ken,
I will expand on your answer and wise advice provided. The AHJ can be anyone who has a nexus to the property including the occupant's insurance company and what we don't know is if the occupant or owner made any representations to the insurance company. This is why the contract, disclaimer notice and anything else you suggested is essential because its accounts like these where the claims come from and the documents are all designed as protective layers to the defense that may need to be mounted in the future.
Besides there is a code adopted in every state and the code does not permit a derogated or deficient system no matter who signs off. The alarm dealer and installer is assumed to be the professional in the room and negates the "I didn't know that" defense.
Bart A. Didden, President
U.S.A. Central Station Alarm Corp.
Port Chester, NY
Milford, CT
St. Paul, MN
Pasco, WA
877-872-1266
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Ken,
I've been a newsletter reader for many years and appreciate the insight that your forum provides to those of us in the alarm and systems integration industry. This particular topic and question piqued my interest.
For those of us who work primarily in the fire and life safety arenas, the statement below about 'no requirement from the local AHJ' is concerning and somewhat of a double-edged answer (in my opinion). As someone who has been in this industry for 30+ years, working primarily in fire alarm / fire protection, my experience with this type of question has always been to ask the local AHJ what they have in their locally adopted municipal ordinance. If they are inspecting / permitting based on a certain model code, that is where you will find the answer as to when and what level of fire protection / detection a particular occupancy requires. Often a building or facility was constructed prior to newer code adoption, hence the lack of a system and current codes generally do not require retrofit unless the building occupancy changes.
To ponder the use of a residential listed device and system in a commercial application seems to answer itself: NO. The amount of headache and potential liability (even with a disclaimer on a contract) seems counter to the peace of mind putting in a proper fire alarm system would.
If you are going to provide fire alarm services, then you should be licensed if / as required by your state or municipality to do so and always follow the adopted and enforceable codes. Using published standards (such as NFPA 72) and following the manufacturer's published instructions is also necessary if you expect to survive and flourish in this business. Installing equipment that is not listed for its intended purpose or the occupancy in which it is protecting is why industry professionals who go back and fix these mistakes are successful.
The Name Withheld submitter should likely not veer into the fire alarm lane if they are not sure about how to properly design, install or maintain a life safety system. Its not just about RMR.
Thank you,
Curtis Streeter, SET
NICET IV #102672 Fire Alarm Systems
President / CEO
Deep Blue Integration, Inc
San Luis Obispo, CA
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Ken,
There is a code that states essentially that protection provided beyond the required minimum is allowed. I’ve relied on this paragraph when adding a burglar alarm zone to the trouble and supervisory alarm outputs of a FACP, so that my customer can get a push notification through their alarm.com BACP account. But this “additional protection“ is not in place of the customary, lawful communication means already in place on the FACP, but in addition to the existing, lawful monitoring pathways.
The only requirement for additional fire protection beyond the code is that it be installed per the code. That means a provider cannot sell and install products not LISTED FOR COMMERCIAL USE.
I suspect the question you received concerns an alarm control panel that is listed for commercial burglar alarm (BACP) as well as residential burglar and residential fire, so the panel can successfully operate fire detection devices. It just isn’t lawful to do so in a business because the control panel is not LISTED for a commercial fire detection application. (This is an excellent subject for discussion in my ethics class for Texas alarm license holders. Go to AlarmClass.com to join our classroom CEU classes in the Houston area.)
In this case, the integrator is faced with selling an entire commercial fire alarm system to this customer, with all its accompaniments (plans, permits, etc.) or simply adding a few heat sensors to the existing BACP for property protection.
The cheapest solution might be for the alarm installer to send a letter to the local AHJ describing your customer request, and see if that AHJ will allow the non-listed application for additional property (non- life safety) protection. But hold on dearly to that approval letter if you get it. After the fire, this will be the first thing you will have to defend when the plaintiff’s expert examines your equipment.
Keep in mind also, when you add a “fire” zone to the account, now your contracted monitoring station is going to want a daily test from this commercial property, and the dual phone lines and commercial fire account monitoring rates that go along with a commercial fire account. More red tape.
Lloyd Young, President
SECURAC, Incorporated
855-SECURAC
www.securac.com
Security License C-10783
Fire License ACR-2313
Level 1 School License
O30817001
CEU/Electronic Access School License
Y28514301
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Ken
No requirement, no system, that's OK. However, in all jurisdictions we deal with, once you put anything in you must meet code. Yes something is better than nothing, however, it may give a false sense of security and if it doesn't detect the fire or even if it does you may be in for more problems than you can imagine. Even a properly installed alarm, with proper detection may bring problems because the expectation was different than experienced. We were contracted to repair a sprinkler system installed about 1918 (by others), after the repair we performed an inspection and test with FDNY, all passed, a few years later they had a very small fire, one sprinkler operated and extinguished it, we were sued by their insurance carrier for water damage, case was immediately dismissed by the judge, now imagine you put in a smoke detector and there was a fire, you have no leg to stand on in defense of a claim.
Most people have no clue about fire or what an alarm or sprinkler system can or should do, so, any damage is too much, they and/or their insurance company will say, your system should have prevented the extend of damage. Ken can chime in here, my feeling is, you installed a fire/smoke system that may be beyond what was required however does not meet any codes or requirements thus you're on the hook and while Ken's contracts are great, may not be enough? And remember Codes, Laws & NFPA standards are a MINIMUM, NOT a maximum!
Jeff
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Ken,
You January 16, 2026 post from Name Withheld about installing a residential panel to monitor fire events reminded me of a somewhat identical situation that happened a few years ago. Even though we are a financial firm, I have a Texas Alarm License and I operate the smallest alarm company in the state (my home and my office). I maintain the license because we are sometimes asked to operate companies on a short-term basis.
A local company owner was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a fifteen years ago. His sons got into a court battle over the company and the Probate Court asked us to operate it and sell it. Even though the company didn’t have a fire license, they had installed, and were monitoring, around 30 fire systems, mostly burg alarms with one or two smoke detectors added on. We aren’t a fire alarm company, and we don’t intend to be. I called each of the customers and gave them three choices:
Have a real fire alarm company install a real fire system
Disconnect the fire sensors
Terminate the month-to-month agreement.
One of the customers was a dry cleaner in a strip center. They had a residential panel with 8 smoke detectors connected. The owner wanted to continue the fire monitoring and told me that the local Fire Marshall was “OK with it.” The Fire Marshall called me and told me that since there was no requirement for a fire system at the location “something was better than nothing” and he was good with it.
I wasn’t good with it. Even though fire and burg systems are similar in principle, there are significant differences. If there is an intrusion and a burg system fails, or the central station makes a mistake, the likely worst-case scenario is that an insurance company writes a check and everyone moves on. If a fire system fails, it can result in extensive damage, serious injury, and loss of life. I wouldn’t want to know that the system failed and someone was injured or killed. I also wouldn’t want to be on a witness stand while a lawyer was asking me why I installed a “substandard” fire alarm.
My suggestion to name withheld is to install a system as if there was a Code requirement, and that conforms to NFPA 72. Life is too short to cut corners.
Mitch Reitman
817 698 9999 x 101
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Response
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I want to thank all the fire experts for their participation in the discussion and sharing their valuable insight. You should seek out and get AHJ approval when making any change to what has already been inspected and approved by the AHJ.
Failure to follow code or the rules may not create liability as a matter of law, but it will create unnecessary hurtles for you to jump through if there is a loss and failure to follow code or rules can be attributed in any way to that loss. Better to be very careful in all your systems; fire included. If not installing to code be sure to fill out the Fire All in One appropriately, and using the Disclaimer Notice would also be a good idea. The failure to comply, strickle, with code should be the subscriber's idea, not your idea or mistake.
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
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