What feature helps reduce the likelihood of a fire alarm being triggered falsely?

Alarm verification is a crucial feature designed to minimize the chances of false fire alarm activations. This process involves a short delay or a secondary check before an alarm is fully activated. Typically, when an initial alarm signal is detected, the system may require confirmation from a second sensor or a manual override from a monitoring station. This allows the system to differentiate between legitimate fire situations and non-threatening conditions, such as smoke from cooking or steam from a shower, that may otherwise trigger the alarm unnecessarily.

While the other options play significant roles in the overall integrity and reliability of a fire alarm system, they do not specifically target false alarm reduction in the same direct way that alarm verification does. System redundancy, for instance, enhances reliability and ensures that if one component fails, others can take over, but it does not inherently address false alarms. Routine maintenance is essential for ensuring all system components function correctly and reliably, but it does not actively prevent false alarms from occurring. Heat detection is a method used to identify fire through temperature changes, which can sometimes be more susceptible to false triggers in certain environments. Thus, alarm verification stands out as the most effective means specifically aimed at reducing false alarm rates.