Halon and cellular phone

On November 22, 1996 Steven D. Smith,Preservation Service Field
Services Officer, AMIGOS Bibliographic Council, Inc. enquired:

>Is there any record of cellular phones or walkie-talkies causing
>Halon systems to discharge? If so, does anyone have any ideas on how
>to prevent this from happening ...?

I spoke to Paul Baril, Fire Protection Advisor at the Canadian
Conservation Institute about this problem and this is his reply:

   "Never heard of this happening and doubt it very much. Based on
    ionization and photoelectric detection principles, I would say
    definitely not. But seeing that I don't know everything yet I'll
    ask around and prepare a reply as soon as I get the feedback."

He followed this up by saying:

    "So far it looks like cellular telephones are safe... but not
     walkie-talkies. Many have been reported to have caused fire
     alarm panels to activate."

Mr Baril is a member of the National Fire Protection Association's
Technical Committee. Hope this helps,

David Tremain
Canadian Conservation Institute

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:56
                Distributed: Tuesday, December 10, 1996
                       Message Id: cdl-10-56-003
                                  ***