Five-Year Study of Verified Alarms 2014 - 2018 Covering Greater - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Five-Year Study of Verified Alarms 2014 - 2018 Covering Greater Boston, Central Massachusetts, Southern New Hampshire and Rhode Island Regional Security Report by American Alarm and Communications Inc. 1

Scope of Study § American Alarm operates a 24-7 command center in Arlington, Massachusetts that monitors its professionally installed and maintained security and fire alarm systems at nearly 30,000 locations in New England. § The monitoring center is UL-Approved and Five Diamond Certified. All signal data presented is from code-compliant systems that are subject to inspection by public authorities. § The monitored locations are primarily in Greater Boston, Central Arlington Monitoring Center Massachusetts, Southern New Hampshire and Rhode Island. § Approximately 50 percent of the monitored locations are residential. The remaining are a mix of large and small businesses, educational institutions, medical facilities and government buildings. § During the five-year period of 2014 to 2018 the command center staff handled 1,644 verified alarms. § A verified alarm is defined as a signal caused by an actual event Distribution of Verified Alarms that posed a threat and required intervention. 2

Summary of Results • Fire is the biggest risk for residential and commercial Verified Alarms by Type property, followed by burglary. • Fire alarms spike in January and February, doubling the monthly average. Burglary Fire 20.3% 32.2% • Burglar alarms are more frequent during the summer and winter months. Other 2.1% • CO Burglar alarms are concentrated in the late evening and 3.7% overnight hours. Elevator Water 13.6% 7.1% • Panic alarms peak in the mornings and afternoons at Panic Medical banks, and in the late evenings at gas stations and 11.3% 9.7% convenience stores. • Elevator alarms are mostly from commercial buildings and clustered during business hours. 3

Total Number of Alarms by Type 2014 - 2018 600 536 500 400 359 300 224 185 200 160 117 100 63 0 Fire Burglar Elevator Panic Medical Water / Flood CO / Gas 4

100 Fire Alarms by Month 2014-2018 90 80 70 60 Number of Events 50 40 30 20 10 0 January February March April May June July August September October November December Month 5

Number of Burglaries by Month, 2014 − 2018 35 40 35 30 30 25 25 BurgByMonth$freq Number of Events 20 20 15 15 10 10 5 5 0 0 January February March April May June July August September October November December Number of Events 6

Number of Burglaries by Hour, 2014 − 2018 35 30 25 Number of Events 20 15 10 5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Time of Day by Hour (24-hour time scale, 0 hour = 12 midnight 23 = 11 p.m.) 7

Number of Fires by Month, Pipe Burst detail, 2014 − 2018 Frozen Pipes 100 90 In January and February fire alarms Burst Pipe − 22% 80 doubled the monthly average, often caused by furnace malfunctions, 70 chimney fires or problems with Number of Events 60 alternative heating sources, including Fire − 78% Burst Pipe 50 wood stoves and space heaters. Fire 40 Many fire alarms received during 30 those months were caused by frozen 20 pipes that burst and tripped a fire 10 alarm sensor. 0 September November December February January October August March June April May July Month 8

Number of Fires by Hour, 2014 − 2018 40 Fire Alarms by Hour 2014-2018 35 30 25 Number of Events 20 15 10 5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Time of Day by Hour (24-hour time scale, 0 hour = 12 midnight 23 = 11 p.m.) 9

Number of Panics by Hour, 2014 − 2018 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 Number of Events 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Time of Day by Hour (24-hour time scale, 0 hour = 12 midnight 23 = 11 p.m.) 10

Number of Elevator Entrapments by Hour, 2014 − 2018 24 22 20 18 16 Number of Events 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Time of Day by Hour (24-hour time scale, 0 hour = 12 midnight 23 = 11 p.m.) 11

American Alarm and Communications was founded in 1971 in Winchester, Massachusetts by Richard “Dick” Sampson, Charles Staples and Bruce Wedlock, three engineers who met at MIT. They were early innovators of the electronic fire alarm industry, and eventually expanded into security systems. Today, American Alarm is a comprehensive security and life-safety systems integration and monitoring firm. The company employs 270 people at six locations in New England, including Arlington, Auburn, Randolph and Weymouth, Massachusetts; Warwick, Rhode Island and Manchester, New Hampshire. American Alarm provides a full range of security and life-safety systems and monitoring services for all classes of property, from single-family homes to businesses large and small, to major public and historic venues. American Alarm is a certified Homeland Security provider for state and federal governments. American Alarm is a licensed Systems Contractor under the Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Electricians (No. 1212C MA) and also under the Mass. Department of Public Safety, with equivalent credentials in other states as required. All of the alarm signal data presented here comes from professionally installed code compliant systems using UL Listed, industry-standard equipment, subject to inspection by the Inspectors of Wires. “Do-it-yourself” grade equipment and systems are not utilized by American Alarm. 12