Outdated Fire Alarm System Causes College to Modernize
 The Challenge
The Savannah College of Art & Design in Savannah,
Georgia, occupies more than one million square feet
and spans over 40 buildings. The college is located in
Savannah's historic Victorian district and includes several
prestigious structures, most of which date back
over 100 years. Since its inception in 1978, the college
has acquired and renovated several local buildings that
had been abandoned and were lying vacant, deteriorating
and unused. The college has enjoyed regular praise
from Savannah's historical associations for its careful
attention to the preservation of its architectural attributes.
Understandably, the college's outdated fire alarm
system was one area that could not be preserved-it was
in dire need of modernization.
The college's buildings were equipped with 5 zone conventional
panels and 110V smoke detectors, which
were unable to pinpoint the exact location of a fire.
With these obsolete detectors, the college's current fire
prevention system posed a major threat to the lives of
its more than 5,800 students and faculty. Moreover, the
college lacked a centralized alarm control center, making
it nearly impossible for maintenance personnel to
detect when an individual alarm went off in a facility.
The college also needed to improve handicapped accessibility,
in order to make it easier for students in
wheelchairs to exit quickly in a fire. To prevent potential
disaster, college officials knew they needed to upgrade
their current fire alarm system quickly and cost-effectively.
The Solution
To ensure that the highest quality and most dependable
fire detection system would be provided for its students
and faculty, Savannah College officials awarded the
task to Global Security Industries, a security installation
company. After evaluating several fire alarm systems,Global Security Industries turned to Fire-Lite Alarms to
update Savannah College's fire protection system. "We
assessed the facility and the situation, and then decided
that the most effective system for a school of this size
and age was Fire-Lite's MS-9200," said Tom
Glendinning of Global Security Industries. Fire-Lite's
MS-9200, a compact, cost-effective, addressable fire
alarm control panel, with the capacity to control 198
Fire-Lite 350 Series devices, was installed in nearly all of
the 40 buildings on campus. In addition to the MS-9200
panels, Global Security Industries installed addressable
smoke detectors in each of the dorm rooms.
To better accommodate handicapped students, monitored
smoke detectors and control relays were installed
to unlock doors automatically in the event of a fire.
Students who were in wheelchairs had mag locks on
their doors with remote release buttons carried with
them and fixed release buttons in their rooms.
The Results
The day after the system was installed, the fire alarm
went off. Because of the new MS-9200 fire alarm system,
the building maintenance attendant could immediately
pinpoint exactly where the smoke was coming
from. As it turned out, a student had just finished cooking
some bacon, thought she had turned the burner off
and proceeded to get into the shower. The point identification
on the addressable panel allowed the maintenance
attendant to get to the room and find the red hot
pan before it ignited, faster than the student had been
able to get out of the shower and put on a robe. If this
same situation had occurred just one day earlier with
the prior system, only the local smoke detector would
have sounded in student's room-no one outside of her
room would have been alerted, resulting in a possible
catastrophe. "We have always been able to rely on Fire-Lite-not only for their exemplary product quality, but
also for their technical support and superior customer
service," said Glendinning. "Once again, we are very
pleased with the system that we installed."
Thanks to the installation of the Fire-Lite MS-9200,
Savannah College officials can now have peace of mind
that all of their students and faculty are being protected. |
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