Fire Safety Clearance CA

[organicdclady]

Hi everyone! I want to start off by saying THANK YOU for all the comments and advice last year on opening a daycare in CA. I have since become licensed and am loving every minute of this crazy daycare provider life happyface I posted a question at the bottom, feel free to skip over my back story...

I had originally applied for a large daycare and my information was sent to an assigned fire marshall. I waited a few weeks and hadn't heard from him, eventually called the licensing analyst (multiple times for another 3 weeks) she finally got back to me and gave me the name and number of the fire marshall. I called him and he insisted he had not received my paperwork. After 3 months of back and forth he finally called me and said he had my paperwork and could come out and do a safety clearance (yay!) but needed to know if I had a pull station. A WHAT?!? No, I DO NOT have that. He could not tell me what it was exactly or how to get one, just that I needed one in order to become licensed as a large dc. I had previously worked in a hdc in the same county and they did not have one of those either. I reread through the licensing handbook and nothing.
I did some research and never got a for sure answer. I found the base on amazon for around $20 but it would need to be hooked up to the house somehow right? I did talk to a contractor who said it would be "thousands of dollars" but he couldn't do it, I would need an electrician.
I was so bummed and disappointed that I contacted licensing and requested to change my app from a large to a small. I got an appointment within a few weeks and finally had the license in my hand. I have been focussed on getting started and gaining business over the last 5 months but am now ready to re approach the whole pull station thing again.

SO...my question is-how do you get a pull station installed? Who do I contact? And approx how much will it cost? I am in a rental house, I can not make major changes to the home, is there a way to get a portable one moveable one? Or is that a crazy question? I look forward to any tips! Thanks!

[spedmommy4]

You need a pull station and a horn. You can buy them on Amazon. They are sold separately. My husband is an engineer and he set up the alarm so that it runs off of a 9 volt battery. It cost us about $75 total.

If you have someone in your life with basic electrical skills, PM me and I will tell you how my husband wired ours. A contractor will want to hard wire it into the home and I have heard this is pricey. Your landlord will probably not be thrilled about it either.

[snbauser]

The cost will really depend on exactly what they are looking for. I needed the same thing here in NC. If they want a pull station in each room, then it can get costly. It's more expensive if it needs to be monitored. The hardest part here was getting the exact requirement. It ended up being that it didn't necessarily need to be a pull station. The exact requirement was that it needed to be a fire alarm that could be manually operated ie you could pull the lever or push a button, and it had to make a sound in the house. So I was told I could get a pull station and bell and because my house was an open floor plan they would consider it one room. OR I could get a home alarm system installed that had an emergency button on it that would sound an alarm when pushed. It also did not need to be monitored. Because we rented, we didn't want to deal with the alarm system install. Instead we bought the pull station and alarm bell off of amazon and dh was able to install them next to a light switch using the same wiring.

[Michelle]

I am licensed for large and I just have a Brinks security system that has a fire button that goes directly to the fire dept. and has a loud alarm
It satisfied my inspector. This was 13 years ago, I don't know if anything has changed.

[daycare]

Each city or county depending on who runs your fire dept has a fire marshal that sets the foundation of standards. This is why nothing is written and provided to us from licensing. Most fire depts don't have anything in writing either.

I am allowed to use smoke dectectors that I can push a button and it sounds off. It cost me all of $10. I have to have one in every room that the kids use including bathroom.

I would call the fire Marshall and ask for details. He's the only one who can guide you through this. Call back and ask for clarification.

Also do you have any friends who have a large DC in your area? Ask how they did theirs.

[alkakr]

I have a small daycare and am applying fpr a large daycare and I want to install a battery operated pull fire alarm, system.
Can you tell me the steps on how to make the pull alarm system a battery operated one?

Thanks

[spedmommy4]

Fire alarm

I have a small daycare and am applying fpr a large daycare and I want to install a battery operated pull fire alarm, system.
Can you tell me the steps on how to make the pull alarm system a battery operated one?

Thanks

This is the answer from my son, who converted ours to battery power.

"When we did our fire alarm set up, we ran it off of two 9v batteries wired together in series. I would assume that fire alarms run on the same voltage, so if you were doing just one alarm then you could do the same thing that we did."

You would need be able to do some simple wiring to convert it to battery powered. We purchased our pull station and horn from amazon.com.

[alkakr]

Hi Friends,
I am going to apply a large home daycare. I want to know the steps
how to make battery operated fire pull station for fire clearance

[alkakr]

hi,
we need help on this.