The technology is essentially the same. Fire Panels will be UL listed for Fire whereas Burglary panels may not be UL listed for fire but may be UL listed for Burglary. Fire panels are designed to work with all the initiating points and indicating devices found in commercial systems. Fire Panels have approvals and listings for use as fire initiating signalling devices. Around here, all fire panels are connected to a telephone line.
Burglary systems may have the programming for fire initiating devices, but will have limited selections for the types as well as one or maybe two types of alerting methods. Burglary panels usually will be listed only as Burglary.
As stated earlier, your local AHJ will tell you if a panel will meet code. There is no charge for that. Getting several chapters of NFPA 72 code comes with a charge.
Rcaman
