In the event of an emergency, it is vitally important to be able to communicate with people that may be in trouble within the building. Whilst voice alarm systems do a great job of controlling an evacuation how can the emergency services deal with people who may be having difficulty getting out of the building? The answer is to install a fire telephone system, often referred to as a disabled refuge system or just a plain old refuge system as they are available for anybody to use.

Primarily designed for multi-floor buildings a fire telephone system will allow communication between 2 or more fixed points. Most popular installations include an end station located on a safe landing of every staircase in a building. This allows a person with reduced mobility to call for assistance to a panel located in a strategic position for the emergency services to get to upon arrival at the incident. As the person with reduced mobility will be unable to use the lifts in an emergency, such as a fire, it will massively reduce rescue times if the rescuers know exactly where to go and this is where a refuge system is designed to work.