69A-48.008. Monitoring

(1) Monitored fire alarm systems shall be installed and operate in accordance with the applicable NFPA standards incorporated by reference in Rule 69A-3.012, F.A.C.

(2) Any person currently providing or proposing to provide fire alarm monitoring services to protected premises (service provider) shall notify the authority having jurisdiction in writing at least 10 days prior to offering the service. The service provider shall notify the authority having jurisdiction verbally within 24 hours of discontinuing monitoring services to a protected premise. The verbal notification shall be confirmed by the service provider submitting written notification to the authority having jurisdiction within 10 days of the discontinuance of monitoring services.

(3) If there is a change in service provider for an existing fire alarm monitoring service, the new service provider shall, within 48 hours of the service transfer, submit to the authority having jurisdiction a completed and fully executed Form DFS-K3-2016, Report of Change of Alarm System Service Provider, effective 09/21, http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-13440 which is incorporated by reference herein. A copy of this form may be obtained by writing to the Bureau of Fire Prevention, Division of State Fire Marshal, Department of Financial Services, 200 East Gaines Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0345, or by downloading the document from the Bureau’s website, https://www.myfloridacfo.com/division/sfm/bfp/.

(4) Managed Facilities-based Voice Network (MFVN) is a physical facilities-based communication network that:

(a) Is managed and maintained by the service provider to ensure service quality and reliability from the service subscriber location to the point at which a call is transferred or handed off to another MFVN peer network such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN), defined as a single or an interconnected collection of local, long distance and international phone companies;

(b) Conforms to all relevant PSTN standards with respect to:

1. Dialing;

2. Dial plan;

3. Call completion;

4. Carriage of alarm signals and protocols; and

5. Loop voltage treatment.

(c) Provides real-time transmission of voice and real-time transmission of signals that carry alarm industry standard alarm formats unchanged;

(d) Preserves primary line seizure for alarm signal transmission;

(e) Provides a method of electrical power backup such as a battery that provides a minimum of 8 hours of continued uninterrupted voice service availability to the attached alarm system; and

(f) Provides disaster recovery plans to address individual customer outages and network power restoration procedures. The plans shall be provided to the authority having jurisdiction upon request.

(5) The service provider must demonstrate that the network is a MFVN, as described in this rule by submitting to the authority having jurisdiction an attestation that the service provider’s network meets the criteria in paragraphs (4)(a) through (4)(f), above.

Rulemaking Authority 633.206, 633.346, 633.348 FS. Law Implemented 633.206, 633.346, 633.348 FS. History–New 11-16-94, Amended 7-11-01, Formerly 4A-48.008, Amended 11-1-09, 10-14-21.