In Romania, the design, installation and maintenance of fire detection and alarm systems (FDAS) are regulated by Normative P118/3-2015 on fire safety of buildings. It defines the categories of buildings required to have FDAS, the types of detectors permitted by risk class, and the conditions for design and acceptance.

For a project to be approved by the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU), the designer and installer must hold the corresponding IGSU licence. At Steiner Systems, this licence covers both the design and the installation of fire detection and alarm systems.

Detector types and where to use them

Choosing the right detector depends on the dominant risk type in the protected area. The most common categories:

  • Optical smoke detectors — the most frequent category for offices, hallways, retail spaces. They react to visible smoke particles. Good sensitivity to smouldering fires, less so to clean open flame.
  • Heat detectors — point-type, with a fixed threshold (typically 58 °C, 78 °C) or rate-of-rise. Used in kitchens, laundries, garages, dusty industrial halls — where smoke detectors would generate false alarms.
  • Multi-criteria detectors — combine optical + thermal + sometimes CO. Significantly reduce false alarms, recommended for mixed zones with elevated requirements.
  • Linear beam smoke detectors — use a laser beam between a transmitter and receiver. Cover large areas at height: industrial halls, warehouses, auditoriums. Replace dozens of point detectors.
  • Aspirating smoke detectors (VESDA / air-sampling) — extremely sensitive, recommended for IT equipment rooms, archives, areas with high-value assets. Detect smoke well before it becomes visible.
  • Flame detectors (UV/IR) — for spaces with rapid ignition risk: fuel stations, hangars, installations with flammable liquids.

For a complex industrial building, a good project does not use a single detector type across the entire footprint — it mixes types appropriate to each zone.

Detection panels: conventional vs addressable

The panel is the brain of the system. Two architectures are in use:

Conventional system: detectors are grouped into zones. The panel knows “there’s an alarm in zone 3” but does not know which specific detector triggered. Lower cost, suited to small buildings (under 30-40 detectors).

Addressable system: each detector has a unique address on the communication loop with the panel. The panel reports exactly: “detector A-12 in the server room, triggered at 14:32, sensitivity 4%”. Maintenance is radically more efficient, fault identification is instant. Cost is higher, but for industrial or commercial buildings with over 50 detectors, it becomes practically mandatory.

Zoning: how to partition the space

P118/3 requires that a zone does not exceed 2000 m² and is not distributed across more than one floor (with some exceptions). Zoning principles:

  1. Coherent boundaries — each zone should correspond to a unit identifiable by the operator (floor, wing, section).
  2. Compartment alignment — zones do not cross fire-rated walls.
  3. Balance — avoid zones that are far too large or far too small. Zones with 1-2 detectors offer insufficiently granular response.
  4. Attention to special spaces — IT equipment rooms, high-voltage electrical areas, flammable material storage receive their own zones.

Integration with other systems

A modern FDAS does not operate in isolation. Typical integrations in an industrial building:

  • Evacuation system — triggering the general alarm activates acoustic sirens and visual panels, followed by guided voice messages.
  • HVAC system — automatic closing of fire dampers, stopping ventilation, starting smoke extraction.
  • Access control — unlocking doors with electric locks to allow evacuation.
  • Suppression system — triggering sprinkler, gas or foam installations, as applicable.
  • Elevators — automatic descent to the ground floor and locking in the open position.
  • Operator / monitoring station notification — either centralised through a BMS, or via remote alerts (SMS, email, 24/7 monitoring station).

These integrations require joint design — they cannot be handled “afterwards”, once each system is installed separately.

Acceptance and maintenance obligations

After installation, the system must be accepted by IGSU. Typical documentation includes:

  • the technical design and updated plans with detector positioning;
  • equipment declarations of conformity;
  • functional test reports;
  • the periodic maintenance schedule.

Maintenance is not optional. Per P118/3, the system must be inspected:

  • monthly — functional testing of the panel, console and a sample of detectors;
  • quarterly — extended verification on a larger sample;
  • annually — full inspection, detector cleaning, backup battery replacement.

Non-compliance with the maintenance schedule invalidates the IGSU approval and exposes the building owner to penalties and — more importantly — to the risk of a system that does not work when needed.

What questions to ask an FDAS designer

Before contracting the design of an FDAS, we recommend verifying:

  1. Do they hold a valid IGSU licence for the required category?
  2. Have they executed similar projects in terms of building type?
  3. Do they propose a coherent detector mix adapted to zones, or apply a standard solution across the entire footprint?
  4. Does the design include integrations with HVAC, evacuation, access control?
  5. Do they offer a maintenance contract with guaranteed response within 4-8 hours?

A correctly designed and maintained system is invisible for days at a time — but it is the difference between an orderly evacuation and a tragedy when minutes count.