What Does Fire With Verification Mean?

Fire With Verification means that a smoke detector must be triggered twice within a short period of time for an alarm to occur. The smoke detector will still alert the panel when activated, but the system will not initiate a fire alarm until it has verified the fire via a second activation.

Honeywell 5808w3 wireless smoke and heat detector

At Alarm Grid, we generally do not recommend the use of Fire With Verification. This is because having to receive a second activation of a smoke detector for an alarm to occur makes it take longer for your system to go into a fire alarm. If a fire occurs, it is crucial that the fire department arrives on the scene as soon as possible to control the situation. Fire With Verification will slow down this process and make it more likely for loss of life and/or property damage to occur.

Instead of using Fire With Verification, it is usually best practice to use Fire W/O Verification or Fire No Verification. This will mean that the smoke detector only needs to be triggered once for a fire alarm to occur. As soon as the panel receives the signal from the smoke detector, the system will go into a fire alarm. From there, the system will use its alarm monitoring communicator to send out an alert to the central station and/or the end user, depending on their alarm monitoring plan. By triggering an alarm after just one activation, the fire department has the best chance of arriving on the scene as soon as possible.

That said, we do understand that there are some situations where a user may be better off using Fire With Verification. This is typically done to prevent false alarms. There may be some areas in your home or business where using Fire W/O Verification or Fire No Verification may result in a false alarm when there isn't actually a fire. One common cause could be that the smoke detector is used in a kitchen, and some smoke from cooking reaches the detector. Another possibility is that someone is smoking a cigarette, and the smoke causes the smoke detector to activate once. If these are frequent occurrences, you might consider using standalone heat detectors in these areas.

It is important to understand that the Fire With Verification setting is used differently across different alarm control panels. For Honeywell Systems like the Lyric Alarm Panel and the VISTA Systems, each smoke detector is set individually by setting the Response Type for the associated zone to the appropriate option. This is also the same for 2GIG Panels like the Go!Control GC2 and the GC3. However, for Qolsys Panels like the Qolsys IQ Panel 2 Plus, the option is set within system settings. This means that if you have one smoke detector set for Fire With Verification on a Qolsys IQ Panel 2 Plus, then all of the other fire zones will have verification enabled as well.

Panel How to Enable Behavior

Lyric Controller

Lynx Touch

Per Zone via Zone Type

Available for Smoke Detector Device Type only (Lyric). Alarm reporting and alarm sound is delayed for 30 seconds after initial detection. If, after 30 seconds, detector is still activated, then an alarm is reported, and sounded. If any other fire zone is activated within the 30-second window, an alarm is activated. If no alarm is indicated after 30 seconds, the panel opens a 60-second window. If any fire zone is activated during the window, a fire alarm will occur.

VISTA-P Series

VISTA TURBO Series

Per Zone, Zone Type 16

Wired smoke zones are reset after initial activation. Power reset lasts 7 seconds on zone 1, 3 seconds on any fire zone reset by trigger or relay. Another activation within 90 seconds triggers a fire alarm. When an alarm is received from a wireless smoke detector, the panel processes a reset (about 12 seconds) if it receives another fire alarm within 90 seconds, an alarm will occur. Wireless life-safety devices use repeating transmission, meaning they transmit over and over until the alarm condition has cleared. In this case, until smoke has cleared the chamber.

Qolsys IQ Panel 2

Qolsys IQ Panel 2 Plus

Interlogix Simon Panels

Settings > Advanced Settings > Installer or Dealer Code (1111 or 2222 respectively) > Installation > Sirens and Alarms > Fire Verification

Enabled system-wide. Requires two fire events from smoke detector(s) (one detector twice, or two detectors once each) before an alarm occurs. This setting is not allowed on UL/cUL installations.

2GIG GC3

2GIG GC2

Per Zone, Zone Type 16

When used, the fire zone must be activated twice within two minutes, or remain violated for 30 seconds in order to activate an alarm. If any other fire sensor activates within two minutes, both sensors will cause an alarm.

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