Minnesota State Statute 299F.453 states "No one shall disconnect or cause to disconnect all or part of a fire alarm system without the prior knowledge and approval of the local Fire Marshal or Fire Chief and the State Fire Marshal."
We interpret that statement to mean you cannot turn off your fire alarm system for any extended period of time. There may be some times when it is necessary to disconnect all or part of the system. Therefore, we would recommend the use of the following guidelines.
Servicing the fire alarm system may require its deactivation. This should be done by the service person. The system should be put back in service prior to him/her leaving the premises.
Spraying for pest control, steam cleaning of carpeting, painting, and drywall work may cause false alarms.
It is recommended in those cases, that the smoke detectors in the area be sealed with Styrofoam from their original container or with plastic taped over the detector. This protects the smoke sensing equipment inside the detector from the contaminants which may cause a false alarm and/or do permanent damage to the sensor.
If deactivation of the fire alarm system is necessary, it should only be done in one zone at a time. It should only be deactivated while personnel in that zone that can provide a visual fire watch. The zone should then be put back in service prior to them leaving that area. It is recommended that the resident manager deactivate and activate the fire alarm system rather than the maintenance people. There have been instances where workers have forgotten to reactivate the system.