WestCon Tribune

March 2008

“It All Started With A False Alarm”

A Discussion Of A 1000 Unit Condominium Fire Alarm System Case With Very Deep Pockets

Presented By: Rod Tosetti, MA, BVEd. - Tosetti Electrical Consultants

and Glenn Peterson, PE, BS-FPE, FPE, ME

After nine years of false alarms, a 1000 unit condominium complex consisting of eight separate four story buildings, found itself in construction defect litigation.  Due to the numerous false alarms, the mainly senior population of the development began to ignore the alarms and the local Fire Department started charging the association for all the false alarms.

Needless to say, the safety of the residence was at stake.  However, the installing contractor /  manufacturer of the fire alarm system refused to acknowledge the failure of the system. After extensive testing of the entire complex by Westcon members  Rod Tosetti and Glenn Peterson, where multiple additional construction defects were exposed, the installer stated the system only needed a tune up.

Mr. Peterson and Mr. Tosetti in their presentation will take you through the journey by defining the problems not only in the defective installation, but also in the proposed fix and ultimate resolution of this very deep pocket case.

Rod Tosetti and Glenn Peterson are long time members of Westcon. Mr. Tosetti, of Tosetti Electrical Consultants, has been an electrical contractor and consultant since 1973. He has testified before the State Assembly on Consumer Protection, has published numerous articles and been a lecturer nationally for many groups.

Glenn Peterson has been a Fire Protection Engineering Consultant since 1983. He is a registered mechanical engineer, registered fire protection engineer with experience in the Western United States, Alaska and Saudi Arabia.

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