A video recognition system detects the presence of fire based on video data provided by one or more video detectors, but suppresses the triggering of an alarm in situations based on the selection of acceptable regions and application of rules associated with each acceptable region. A user defines acceptable regions within the field of view of the video detector and associates with each acceptable region a rule. During processing of video data associated with the field of view, video metrics are calculated and analyzed to detect the presence of fire (e.g., flame or smoke). Prior to triggering an alarm, regions identified as indicative of fire are compared with the user-defined acceptable regions. If there is overlap between the two regions, the rule associated with the acceptable region is applied to determine whether the alarm should be suppressed or triggered.