Fire departments in the United States respond to some 2.2 million fire alarm activation calls every single year. These types of calls can become so routine that it’s easy for firefighters to get complacent and simply go through the motions, hit the silence and reset switches and then head back to the firehouse without really giving any thought as to what might have caused the alarm to go off. Sometimes the panel tells firefighters things that they really don't understand , but because there is no smoke or fire they ignore what it is saying.  Chief Steve Heckman joins host Tom Merrill to discuss the fascinating history of fire alarm systems and provide some very important information to help us all understand these systems a little bit better.