It’s safe to say the majority of people never give a fire drill or a smoke detector a second thought. However, for freshman Timothy Zhang, it’s the opposite: Zhang has a passion for and deep knowledge of fire systems.

Since the age of eight, Zhang has been fascinated with everything related to fire safety. Whether it be fire alarms or extinguishers, Zhang knows everything about them and has become an expert through years of research.

Zhang’s curiosity was sparked during a fire drill at school one day in second grade.

“After the fire drill, it was actually kind of interesting because the teachers were talking about it,” Zhang said. “When I went home and Googled it, I found out there was a whole group of people who were interested in these systems.”

Thus he began researching fire alarms on his own time, dedicating days after school to educate himself about them. 

“[I have] just an interest in the design,” Zhang said. “All the components of a working system mashed together is just really interesting.”

At first his knowledge was limited to fire alarms, but over time, his understanding evolved.

“As I got older, I started understanding the systems, and it just progressed into entire alarm systems and fire safety systems,” Zhang said.

Freshman Alex Qi was in Zhang’s second grade class, the same year he piqued his interest in alarms. According to Qi, Zhang told him a fact about fire alarms every single day.

“He’s definitely a pro,” said Qi.

Once he became well-versed in his research, Zhang began to experiment with fire alarms himself. He got in touch with alarm technicians and was granted equipment for his trials.

“A lot of times alarm technicians will remove old stuff from buildings, and I’ve had a couple of them send boxes of used stuff,” Zhang said.

Zhang experiments with anything he can get his hands on. He takes apart the fire alarms he gets and puts them back together to learn how they work. He also has a board he can mount the systems on to create a mini system right in his bedroom.

“It’s really crazy; he has a lot of stuff,” Qi said. “He definitely has a bunch of systems set up.”

Zhang shares some of these demos and more on social media platforms such as Instagram (@firealarmdude5967) and YouTube.

“Last week actually, the YouTube channel hit 1,000 subscribers,” Zhang said. “Now, I can monetize my videos, which isn’t the premise of the whole thing, but it is kind of rewarding.”

Zhang said he will continue researching fire systems and fire safety, and he plans to grow his passion into a career.

“I would like to be a fire protection engineer,” Zhang said. “It’s not really the installation but the design of the building so that they are fireproof.”