Which term describes the signal used to communicate suppression status to the main fire alarm controls?

• A. Individual supervisory signal
• B. Common supervisory signal
• C. Alarm signal
• D. Notification signal

Answer: (B)

The main idea is that some conditions don’t trigger an alarm for occupants but still need the fire alarm system to know and report them. A supervisory signal is used when a monitored component is in a status that requires attention but isn’t actively signaling a fire. When it comes to suppression, the status of the suppression system—like valve position or readiness—affects the whole system, so it’s communicated to the main fire alarm controls as a single, system-wide communication: a common supervisory signal. This distinguishes it from an individual supervisory signal, which would be tied to one specific device, an alarm signal, which indicates active fire detection, or a notification signal, which simply drives alarms and alerts.