How Do I Turn On Fire Verification on the IQ5 NS System?

To turn on Fire Verification on the IQ5 NS, open the IQ Installer app and navigate to Sirens and Alarms, then enable Fire Verification. It then requires two separate smoke detector events before a fire alarm can trigger. Because the IQ5 NS has no screen, this is all done within the app here.

About Fire Verification

Fire Verification is a false-alarm-reduction feature on the IQ5 NS (available in AT&T LTE and Verizon LTE). When it is enabled, the panel will not trigger a fire alarm on a single smoke event. Instead it requires two fire events, either one smoke detector tripping twice or two different detectors each tripping once, before it treats the event as a real fire. This helps keep a brief or spurious reading, like a puff of cooking smoke, from causing a full fire alarm and dispatch on your security system.

Fire Verification is disabled by default, so out of the box a single smoke detector event triggers the fire alarm immediately. Turning it on trades that instant response for confirmation, which cuts down false fire alarms but means a genuine fire must register a second event before the alarm sounds. It is a setting to weigh carefully for any life-safety device.

Before You Begin

Because the IQ5 NS has no screen, its Sirens and Alarms settings are reached through the IQ Installer app. If you have not yet connected the IQ Installer app to your panel, see our guide on setting up the IQ5 NS with the IQ Installer app before proceeding. Note that this feature is not allowed on UL or cUL listed installations, and if your system is professionally monitored, confirm with your provider before enabling it, since it changes how quickly a fire signal is confirmed.

Turn On Fire Verification

1. Open the IQ Installer app. Open the IQ Installer app on your mobile device and make sure it is connected to your IQ5 NS.
   
   Open the IQ Installer app connected to your IQ5 NS.
2. Navigate to Sirens and Alarms. In the app, go to the Sirens and Alarms menu and find the Fire Verification setting.
   
   Navigate to Sirens and Alarms and find Fire Verification.
3. Enable Fire Verification. Toggle Fire Verification on. From now on, the panel requires two smoke detector events before it triggers a fire alarm. Toggle it off here any time to return to immediate single-event fire alarms.
   
   Toggle Fire Verification on.

Tips

The two required events can come from one detector triggering twice or from two separate detectors each triggering once, so a real, spreading fire is still caught quickly while a single stray reading is filtered out. Because this is a life-safety setting, keep your smoke detectors clean and tested so they respond reliably when it matters. If false fire alarms are your concern, also consider detector placement away from kitchens and bathrooms, which often solves the problem at the source.

Turning on Fire Verification on the IQ5 NS helps prevent false fire alarms by confirming an event before the alarm sounds. For help with Fire Verification or other alarm settings on your IQ5 NS, contact the Alarm Grid support team. We are here Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern Time. Email us at support@alarmgrid.com, call us at 888-818-7728, or visit our website and chat with a live support agent.