The NFPA requires a fire watch to be implemented if a system is down for more than four hours in a 24-hour timeframe. Water-based fire protection systems need to be down for 10 hours or longer in a 24-hour timeframe. In either situation, the fire department must be notified. Requirements to these regulations will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction as well as authorities having jurisdiction, or AHJs.

It is a common misbelief that fire systems need to be down for more than four consecutive hours prior to the implementation of a fire watch. This is not true. A fire watch is required when the sum of all outages within a 24-hour timeframe goes beyond more than four hours.

During a fire watch, all areas of the affected building must be continuously patrolled for smoke, fire, or any other abnormal conditions. If a life-threatening situation occurs, the person who is conducting the fire watch must contact emergency personnel immediately as well as notify all building occupants to the emergency and assist in safely evacuating them.

Those involved in the fire watch must also inspect unoccupied areas such as crawl spaces, storage rooms, and other hidden areas. Therefore, it’s advised that anyone involved with a fire watch be highly familiar with the building and the equipment that they are keeping watch over. Likewise, they also must know where all manual fire alarm stations and fire protection equipment are located should they need to put out a fire. Every activity that is associated with a fire watch needs to be documented in a log sheet.

Fire watches remain active until the fire alarm system is completely repaired and working properly and after any inspections and tests are completed verifying the system’s correct operation.