and what about the bloke some student has sneaked in overnight and he discovers a fire first and can't operate the mcp?
surely you can expect him/ her to kick up a din enough to wake up somebody else., viz "Other Cues".
and if he is the only person, then all the more he could just walk away from it.
Firstly, it is unacceptable to walk away from the fire, the fire alarm system activation in many buildings summons the fire service.
Secondly, kicking up a din may or may not result in someone else activating a call point, I am not sure I would open my door if there were a din outside, pressing a call point ensures that an alarm will sound in 3 seconds. Any delay would be unacceptable. Some people might not be able to kick up a din.
unacceptable? only on paper.. the 1st rule is still life safety and everything else is secondary. besides, the ground rule is "not take personal risk". if the fire is severe enough, there will be enough heat & smoke & flame to advertise the location over long distance.
next, it is difficult to influence the choice of occupants. even if there is an alarm, some Occupants may not want to evacuate. Guylene Proulx has suggested that when false alarm is >1.4 times / year, people tends to ignore them.
but unfortunately for you, most people will evacuate. In fact, if you look at fire fatalities, most people died with a distinct behavior of being in groups then isolated individuals (social affiliation), case example : triangle shirt factory in NY city.