Responses (2)

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Boone

Hello @dagold63 , I wanted to help clarify the information that you received from the Tech Support. Yes, it is correct that in all three Modes (**Disarm**, Home, or Away), if the "First Alert Smoke/CO Detector" or the "Ring Alarm Smoke & CO Listener" is activated, this will result with the Ring Alarm Base Station triggering the siren & alarm (including any Ring Camera for video recording and/or cam sirens response that you have linked to the Base Station). If triggered by **Fire/Smoke** detection, the Professional Monitoring **FIRST** calls your first Emergency Contact phone, and if this primary contact does not answer **THEN** they call the Fire Department, in that order. **After** dispatching the Fire Response Team, then the Professional Monitoring will call your second & third Emergency Contacts. The intent is to get the Fire truck moving fast because "Time is of the essence" since your house maybe burning. If triggered by **Carbon Monoxide (CO)** detection, the Professional Monitoring **FIRST** calls the Emergency Response Team to immediately get them moving, and **THEN** they call your listed Emergency Contact phone numbers, in that order. "Time is of the essence" is even more critical because you might be dying from CO poisoning! This is not like when your Alarm Base Station is triggered for a **Burglar Alarm**, where the Professional Monitoring **FIRST** calls **all** your listed Emergency Contacts, and if unsuccessful they **THEN** call the Police, in that order. For Fire/Smoke/Burglar alarms, whenever the Professional Monitoring successfully reaches any of your listed Emergency Contact numbers, who also know the correct Verbal Password, that person can cancel this emergency, and Professional Monitoring can again call the Emergency Response Teams IF they already dispatched them. So if you are at your house and the Fire/Smoke/CO Detector cause the Alarm Base Station do go off, disarm your alarm system and get ready for the phone call from the Professional Monitoring. My point is that you can stop the Response Teams, but they might already be on their way when your safety is crucial. For sure you are not going to sleep through this with all these alarms going off. This I consider a good extra thing. I also have one additional recommendation, based on actual personal experience. Every Emergency Contact person should program their phone's contact list with the Professional Monitoring number (833) 209-2159 (for in the U.S.) and then name it something like "**RING-is-ALARMING**" or "**HOUSE-is-on-FIRE**" (anything that really will get you wide awake fast). First, you don't want to find yourself listening to a voicemail for the Professional Monitoring phone number or scrolling through your call log, after you missed their call to you. This is not the time to not know or recognize their phone number. Secondly, I had initially added/named this contact number as "Ring Alarm" and when I did receive a 2 A.M. call while asleep on a vacation (away from home), my sleepy-muddled brain caused me to stare at my phone, just wondering why I had set my *Clock Alarm* so early (yeah, I actually did think it was just my phone's clock alarm). I didn't realize for several minutes that it was the Professional Monitoring trying to reach me. I had already I hit the red button (hanging up) thinking I was only turning off my alarm clock. I know it sounds silly, but believe me, you too might make this sleepy mistake. After I reviewed the video of my Ring security cameras, I realized it was a false alarm (a motion sensor coupled with a very bad thunderstorm), I called the Professional Monitoring who contacted the police, but not in time. I ended up talking to the cops through my Ring Video doorbell. But back on point @dagold63 , I would hope you reconsider getting the additional protection of linking Fire/Smoke/CO alarms with your Ring Alarm system. One last item to consider is that almost all House **Insurance** companies offer you a **discount** for having these detectors professionally monitored, so that's extra money savings for you, besides the added 'peace of mind.' I've added useful links below. I hope you find this information helpful, add understanding as to why the detectors work in all modes, and clear up any response protocols by the Professional Monitoring. :smiley: *Detailed Professional Monitoring Response Plans:* https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360035899671-Professional-monitoring-emergency-response-plans https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021614892-Getting-a-Call-from-Ring-s-Professional-Monitoring-Center *Certificate Proof for Alarm and Fire Insurance Discounts:* https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048711732-How-to-get-a-professional-monitoring-certificate-for-your-insurance-company

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21-03-2021 01:41:52

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dagold63

@Boone Thanks for the detailed response. I’m aware of all aspects of what you mentioned, but the basic issue if I am at home (Disarm mode), I want the smoke alarm behavior to be like other sensors (contact sensors, motion detectors, etc). Even with well placed smoke/co2 detectors, I still get false alarms and have no desire to deal with unwinding a Ring alarm call as a result or having a panicked family member do so. Instead, if an event occurs, notify the base station which sends me a notification but take no further action. In the case of the smoke/co2 detector, I expect it’s sound alarm to go off like a dumb unit. This makes total sense and is consistent with Ring alarm behavior for other devices. Unless Ring revises this behavior, I can only consider non-integrated systems like the Nest smoke/co2 detector. I’ll get notified and bit deal with emergency services myself.

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10-04-2021 03:54:16

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Boone
Hello again @dagold63 , After I wrote the my post above, I later came across a "Feature Request" by @Winnegance . You are not alone with your dissatisfaction with the Professional Monitoring protocols concerning their Fire/Smoke/CO response. The Ring "Feature Request Board" is open to all **to submit** and **vote** on ideas you would like to see implemented. The more votes a "Feature Request" receives, the more likely it is to get the attention of the Ring Teams and possibly be incorporated. Many of the Ring product improvements already implemented are a result of requests that originated on the "Feature Request Board." Below is the link to the request by @Winnegance , and you can add your vote by clicking on the blue "**VOTE**" button (upper-left corner, next to the title of the request). Ring encourages people to vote, add comments on, or :heart: on idea/requests/improvements you want. Or submit a new original request that isn't already on the "Feature Request Board." I hope you find this helpful. :wink: https://community.ring.com/t/smoke-monitoring-serious-safety-issue-with-ring-fire-response-protocols/40227
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21-03-2021 18:37:44
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