 You'd be hard pressed to find an area more picturesque and abundant with recreational opportunities than the Huron-Manistee National Forests.
The forests, which comprise almost one million acres of public lands extending across the northern lower peninsula of Michigan , are a veritable outdoor playground, offering visitors the chance to engage in h iking, camping, fishing, biking, boating, hunting, and sightseeing, as well as seek a welcome respite from the chaos of their everyday routine. But that's only the beginning, as the forests also provide a habitat for fish and wildlife.
These forests are rich not only in resources but in history. In 1909, the Huron
National Forest was established and the Manistee National Forest was formed in 1938; in
1945, these two National Forests were administratively combined. Working hand in hand
with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and other partners, the Forest
Service has changed the “lands that nobody wanted” to healthy forests again.
Maintaining these lands is no easy job. It is, in fact, an enormous responsibility,
one that falls on the shoulders of the staff at the Regional Site of the United States Forest
Service in Mio, Michigan.
In order to more effectively protect these precious woods, the existing building in
Mio was replaced with a new administrative facility. While the headquarters is filled
with state-of-the-art equipment and communications systems, its log cabin-type
construction pays homage to the rustic lands that it oversees.
Clearly, in terms of protection, the Huron-Manistee National Forests are in good
hands. The question is, who protects the people who protect the forest? That critical
function has been relegated to a comprehensive fire-alarm system from Fire-Lite Alarms,
part of Honeywell’s (NYSE: HON) Life Safety group and a leading manufacturer of
quality life safety systems. Fire-Lite manufactures low-to-mid sized fire alarm control
communicators, remote power supplies, annunciators and voice evacuation products.
At the heart of the Mio fire system is the Fire-Lite MS-9200UD control panel, a
compact, cost-effective, intelligent addressable fire alarm with a built-in communicator,
remote site upload/download capability and a capacity of 198 addressable Fire-Lite
devices on one loop. Designed for ease of installation and programming, the Signaling
Line Circuit (SLC) loop supports up to 99 smoke detectors and 99 control, relay or a
variety of monitor modules. It also features detector sensitivity testing with printable
results, system auto-programming, maintenance alert, automatic detector test and drift
compensation, and selectable strobe synchronization.
Surrounding the MS-9200UD panel is a total of 25 Fire-Lite photoelectric smoke
detectors, along with 5 duct detectors. Six addressable pull stations are also employed, as
is an 8-amp circuit extender, necessary to power the strobe devices throughout the
building. The finishing touch is the Fire-Lite LCD-80F, a compact 80-character, backlit
LCD Fire Annunciator. The LCD-80F is capable of displaying English-language text ofsystem point status including: device type, independent point alarm, trouble or
supervisory, zone and custom alpha labels. The LCD-80F also provides system status
LEDs to display Power, Alarm, Trouble and Supervisory.
Dan Dysinger, owner of Integral Electronic Systems, LLC in Farwell, Michigan,
was the installer who worked on the Mio forest service project. A licensed fire alarm
contractor, Dan has been in the fire alarm business for about 15 years. For much of that
time, Dysinger had been an exclusive distributor of a competitive system. However,
about two years ago, when the company decided to embark on a “new strategic
direction,” Dysinger found himself no longer representing the company’s products.
After conducting extensive research and talking with several companies, Dysinger
came across Fire-Lite. He had, in fact, sold some Fire-Lite equipment in the past, but it
had been mostly small conventional controls, never one of the advanced addressable
systems. While attending a Fire-Lite training class, Dysinger found that Fire-Lite’s
products as well as replacement parts were readily available in open distribution – an
important consideration both for him and his customers.
“Fire-Lite offers a completely non-proprietary line of products, which allows the
owner greater flexibility when it comes to requiring service for their system,” said
Dysinger. “Products and training are so readily available, service companies can be
called upon to maintain that equipment without much difficulty. My philosophy in
selling Fire-Lite equipment is that because it’s a non-proprietary line, it does not lock a
customer in to a particular distributor or service provider.”
“I don’t believe there is another product line that would fit the bill for a nonproprietary
product,” he added. “That’s why it (Fire-Lite) has become my primary
system of choice.”
Dysinger became involved with the project when the electrical contractor
contacted him and told him that there was a requirement for a fire alarm system in the
project. Dysinger was asked if he was interested in providing a proposal for a system,
along with training and service.
“I provided cut sheets, technical details, everything about the system,” he said.“The essence of the pitch was the non-proprietary aspect. That, and the fact that it was
simple to program and use, as well as extremely effective. Because components would
be readily available, the owner would be able to sign on with any service contractor they
wanted.”
“After my pitch to the electrical contractor, he subsequently conveyed this
information to the general contractor. The electrical contractor had considered other
systems, but the non-proprietary aspect was particularly attractive; my bid was accepted
largely on the basis of that advantage.”
The installation was a simple undertaking, according to Dysinger.
“Despite its wide range of features and capabilities, the MS-9200UD is a very
straightforward, basic fire alarm panel, not so complicated that it’s burdensome to learn.”
he said. “We started the installation in the middle of July and it was finished at the end of
August, a relatively quick time frame for a system of this scope.”
“The building has only recently been occupied, and I will be doing training very
shortly. The training will be offered to the administrative people and some of thepersonnel involved in building management so that they can acknowledge the system and
silence the alarm in the event of a fire. I anticipate that the training process will be very
easy as well.”
“One of the primary objectives in this entire process was to keep things simple –
simple installation, simple training, etc. The Fire-Lite system has helped us achieve
that.”
The Mio, Michigan Regional Site of the United States Forest Service now has a
fire-alarm system that effectively protects the people who protect the Huron-Manistee
National Forests. After all, we consider the national forests to be valuable natural
resources. Should the people who guard them be considered anything less?
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