MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) -
Nearly two weeks have elapsed since a smoldering electrical fire at the RSA Tower in downtown Montgomery tripped a protective sprinkler system, which in turn flowed freely to the point of damaging the building's electrical system.
It took nearly 40 minutes from the time the fire started to the arrival of Montgomery firefighters on the scene. The building was abandoned for four days as crews worked to dry, inspect, and test the electric infrastructure.
So why did it take so long to discover a fire, that authorities say never produced an open flame, and why did it lead to such serious consequences for building owners, tenants and thousands of workers?
It's a common practice for building owners to contract out to private security companies that monitor alarm systems, and the RSA Tower is no different. Furlongs Security holds the contract to monitor the tallest building in Montgomery, as well as many other properties.
Two things have to be clarified to answer the question of why it took so long to discover there was a fire/activated sprinkler system. First, Furlongs never received a fire signal from the building and second, they never knew they had a reason to call fire officials.
What does that mean? Furlongs says it followed its protocol exactly and points to the company who wired the monitoring system inside the building as the problem. Tests by the Montgomery Fire Department showed Furlongs to be correct in its assessment.
A Furlongs representative confirmed that the company monitors the RSA Tower for multiple types of alarms. At 6:50am, while an electrical fire was smoldering in a maintenance closet on the 17th floor, Furlongs was being alerted, not to a fire signal, but to a "trouble" signal. While a fire alert would prompt immediate police and fire action, a "trouble" signal could indicate a wide variety of building issues.
Furlongs' protocol during a "trouble" signal is to begin notifying appropriate officials on its list of contacts. The true cause of the alarm wasn't discovered until 7:34am, more than 40 minutes later, when the fire department was called by people inside the building.
Furlongs monitors the RSA Tower but did not install the monitoring system. That system was most likely contracted out when the high rise office building was built in 1997.
Authorities inspected the building in the days since the incident and okayed it for occupancy the weekend after the fire event. Tenants were allowed to return to offices, and the only outward evidence that anything occurred is the row of large generators lining the street that continue to power the building.
The Retirement Systems of Alabama, which owns the building, [Editor's note: RSA is the primary lender to Raycom Media, the parent company of this television station], said that it will conduct its own investigation into the building's monitoring system.
A final report from RSA has not been released.
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