Jim Mickowski, an engineer with PSJ Engineering, has more than 25 years of experience in the design and installation of fire suppression systems. His experience ranges from working on stadiums, museums and office buildings to high-security, high-risk areas in correctional facilities and nuclear facilities where there is “no access allowed.”

Can you tell us about your company?

PSJ Engineering is a mechanical engineering company specializing in the design of fire protection building systems as well as heating, ventilating, air conditioning and plumbing. We have been designing fire protection systems for 25 years. PSJ is headquartered in Milwaukee with an office in Madison, Wisconsin. We’ve been fortunate to have a wide gamut of projects from stadiums to office buildings. The company has completed work for Miller Park (home of the Milwaukee Brewers) and the Milwaukee Museum.

How do you define a no-access-allowed area?

We have designed fire protection systems for penal and nuclear reactor control rooms and would consider these areas high-security, no-access-allowed areas. You can also classify control rooms and areas that house computer infrastructure, where computers need to be protected from water and vandalism, as no-access-allowed areas.

What types of fire safety systems and products do you recommend for these types of projects?

We recommend single and double interlock pre-action systems, because they have many benefits. They provide early warning. They are relatively low cost, simple to install, easy to operate and maintain, and you don’t have to consider room construction or HVAC, as is the case when using a clean agent system. We’ve had a lot of problems activating clean agent systems and getting them to work correctly. The envelope that those systems require depends on the HVAC and building construction. It’s very difficult to keep the building construction tight enough. The air has to go somewhere, so the HVAC system has to complement a clean agent system. It gets a little complicated.

A single or double pre-action with trouble alarms before the water actually enters the piping gives maintenance or supervisory personnel an opportunity to investigate and then take appropriate action. The best way to minimize impact is to provide early warning so people can investigate and take action.

How do you design for an area that is to remain off-limits to most?

Typically, no-access areas are small areas in relationship to the whole project. Those areas should not affect the overall impact of construction cost. We design each area as a pod. In that pod, we design the system so there has to be a smoke or heat detector activated before the water even enters the piping. And then you still have the final safeguard: the sprinkler head. The water doesn’t discharge until the sprinkler heads open up. We are trying to prevent accidental discharge.

For instance, a penal control room is a very small area with numerous cells. The cells obviously are vandal resistant but are not really high security. A lot of times, a prisoner will knock off a sprinkler head and get a discharge of water. Sure, it’s a pain to fix, but it’s not causing any catastrophic damage. The penal control room, however, is the no-access area. If the computers or the security hardware are damaged, you are talking about infrastructure issues that could cost large amounts of money.

I think money and cost to repair go hand in hand when designing a project with no-access-allowed areas. That is what you are trying to eliminate. You are trying to take the maximum safeguards to protect that equipment. Can you imagine if chaos erupted due to fire, and someone got into a penal control room? They could release the cells and doors. You need to protect the electronics and control mechanisms. Treating each of those areas as pods helps secure that area and minimize cost in the event of a fire.

“Can you imagine if chaos erupted due to fire, and someone got into a penal control room? They could release the cells and doors. You need to protect the electronics and control mechanisms.”
— Jim Mickowski, Engineer, PSJ Engineering

So why wouldn’t you use an aspiration system in these areas instead?

It’s not that we wouldn’t use it. We just prefer wet suppression. Aspiration is also a simple system; but it is smoke detection, not fire suppression. It certainly has its place. Incipient fire detection, if a project can afford it, is one of the nicest luxuries any owner can afford. The false alarms caused by dust are a thing of the past.

What types of challenges do you have with no-access-allowed areas?

There is always the challenge to protect the computers. Computers should not be subject to water exposure. We opt to design water suppression systems in a computer room all the time – and we put sprinkler systems in computer rooms all the time. The key in the computer room is to turn the power off before water is discharged. Computers can withstand getting wet provided the power is not on. It’s when the computer power is on and the water shorts them out that you have a problem. We use a combination of water flow switches that are in the piping; when the water comes into the piping, it turns off all power to the computers. And don’t forget the battery backup.

What specifics must you consider when designing fire suppression systems for no-access-areas?

In today’s economy, you want to open it up for every qualified individual to be able to maintain the system you are designing. It only benefits the owner’s maintenance budget. If you have a highly specialized system that only the factory can maintain, it can drive up costs. We are firm believers in keeping it simple; wet suppression is a simple system. It’s important for the maintenance people to understand the system and the operation of it. Typically, the maintenance staff has not been trained on high-tech fire protection systems, so we try to make sure we design the simplest system that will perform in accordance with the user’s requirements.

“Incipient fire detection, if a project can afford it, is one of the nicest luxuries any owner can afford. The false alarms caused by dust are a thing of the past.”
— Jim Mickowski, Engineer, PSJ Engineering

What advice do you have for others in your field when designing a fire safety system for high-security/no-access-allowed projects?

The fire protection engineer must look at it from the perspective of the person who has to maintain it. A sophisticated system is not good if there is no one who knows how to maintain it. Meet the user to verify that he understands the system and see if he has any comments. It has been our experience that if the user supports the design, you have a happy client. Have a colleague look at the design with a fresh set of eyes and get his comments. The building manager should be able to contract any fire protection contractor to maintain the system if they cannot do the maintenance themselves. Keep these questions in mind:

• Will maintenance personnel understand the way it works?
• Is it simple enough?
• Is there something that I can do to help the maintenance person understand?
• Does your client want to subcontract the maintenance?
• Will all fire protection contractors have the ability to maintain the system?

“System Sensor devices are working together in a networked fire alarm situation, thereby providing increased fire protection for one of the crown jewels of theSeattleschool district.”
— Dennis Lane, Sales Engineer at Chubb

Renovation of the 230,000-squarefoot Chief Sealth was completed with an emphasis on life safety issues and energy and environmental conservation, while revitalizing the school’s appearance inside and out. The objective was to create a superior educational environment, including classrooms with technology upgrades, new foreign language classrooms, a renovated auditorium and full Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility.

Catering to roughly 1,000 students, who comprise one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse student bodies in Washingtonstate, Chief Sealth has undergone periodic upgrades to its fire and life safety system prior to this renovation. Already equipped with NOTIFIER^® and System Sensor products, the newly designed system was required to maintain that standard and reuse as much as possible.

Because of its specific experience with NOTIFIER and System Sensor devices, Chubb Fire & Security, a UTC Fire & Security Company, worked with Tres West Engineers of Tacoma, Wash., to design and manage the installation of the fire and life safety system for the school renovation. Chubb is a fully licensed fire, life safety and security contractor with expertise at retrofitting properties to current safety standards.

Because Chief Sealth has serviced the community since its opening in 1957, the school district was concerned about maintaining its heritage and existing architecture, including its beautiful, arched ceilings. This was one of the factors that played into the fire and life safety system design.

“There were some complications in the actual design of the fire alarm system related to accommodating unblemished ceilings, which in turn created obstacles in installing the devices,” says Tony Bartling, Project Manager at Chubb. “The goal was to do as little exposed pipe work as possible, which caused some additional challenges in determining the locations of the smoke detectors and of the audible visible devices.”

Overall, detectors and notification devices were placed throughout the campus in accordance with the International Fire Code. But that didn’t always prove to be easy. “One of the challenges in the building was the number of beams that crossed corridors.” saysDennis Lane, Sales Engineer at Chubb.

The driving factor was to provide a code-compliant system. “The nice part about the current fire alarm system is it is easily expandable to accommodate additional notification devices or the smoke detectors, beam detectors, heat detectors, what have you. The device compatibility and expansion becomes a nonissue,” says Bartling.

“System Sensor devices are working together in a networked fire alarm situation, thereby providing increased fire protection for one of the crown jewels of theSeattleschool district,” says Lane.

Inmates will abuse any building component within reach. So how do you design a system to detect and protect while keeping it safe, too?

Any building environment prone to vandalism requires special fire and life safety systems design considerations. In the case of prisons and correctional facilities, fire and life safety response planning differs from other high-abuse environments because the majority of the occupants are behind locked doors. This poses unique challenges in terms of fire safety and may be the most difficult to protect from fire, in part because the cardinal rule of immediate evacuation does not apply.

There are many different functional buildings, or sections of buildings, in a prison, including workshops, laundries, stores, classrooms, athletic facilities, religious facilities, administrative offices, medical units and the house-blocks. Special consideration is needed in the cell blocks, and potentially the medical unit, where prisoners are locked into their accommodations.

Similar to public hospitals, prisons and mental institutions adhere to a “protect-in-place” strategy, opting to relocate occupants from the area of fire origin to a secure area within the facility. Yet, to be effective, fire and life safety systems in these sites must incorporate highly intuitive, cutting-edge technology in compliance with local regulations and applicable standards.

Designing for High Security

Fire protection designs for a prison follow strict guidelines that are spelled out in NFPA and local building codes. NFPA 101^®: Life Safety Code^®, requires new jails to be constructed of limited- or non-combustible materials. Automatic fire sprinkler and detection systems are mandated to be present throughout. When dealing with potentially hostile facility types, NFPA 101 also requires a manual, automatic or combination manual/automatic fire-alarm system to be installed.

In addition, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has a set of fire protection guidelines for federally controlled correctional facilities. The guidelines are focused on providing life safety for the inmates while emphasizing the need to minimize fire hazards as well as to remove the opportunity for vandalism in the form of arson. Smoke control often plays a key part of the design and fire engineering approach.

Fire and life safety within controlled-access institutions can be achieved through the use of early warning smoke detection, automatic sprinklers, compartmentalization, established fire zones and a relocation plan. Considering the small space and restricted means of egress, early detection and response are critical.

Prisons have the reputation for being the worst abusers of fire protection systems. Finding a balance between effective smoke detection – while avoiding nuisance alarms – and tamper resistance often leads to installation of detectors behind ventilation grilles, outside cells or in cross-listed cages. This makes maintenance, testing and inspections cumbersome. Early warning is imperative for controlled response and evacuation before reaching dangerous levels of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and temperature.

Viability of Spot Detection

Typically, photoelectric and ionization detectors are used to passively detect smoke. These addressable, early warning smoke detectors, as well as heat detectors, can be an option for protecting a prison if they are tamper resistant and are strategically placed to avoid vandalism.

Not only do the devices need to be out of the physical reach of inmates who could damage or disable them; they must also be out of the range of other destructive sources, such as water that inmates could throw on the devices. Therfore, placement and installation can be just as important as the type of detection chosen.

Another viable solution is intelligent Very Early Warning Fire Detection spot detectors, which are similar to traditional detectors except that they employ a more advanced detection method. For example, laser-based smoke detectors are up to 100 times more sensitive to smoke than standard addressable or conventional smoke detectors. They are designed to respond to incipient fire conditions as low as 0.02% obscuration per foot to provide valuable time for personnel to investigate the affected area and to take appropriate action.

[The Federal Bureau of Prisons] guidelines are focused on providing life safety for the inmates while emphasizing the need to minimize fire hazards as well as to remove the opportunity for vandalism in the form of arson.

Because intelligent laser smoke detectors are individually addressable, they are able to send information to the central control station, thereby pinpointing the exact location of the smoke. This can be key to providing the protect-in-place strategy in that officials can immediately identify the problem area and take action, including sending someone to investigate the problem and moving occupants to a different section of the facility.

Aspiration: High Sensitivity and Security

Aspiration detection systems, which are capable of detecting byproducts of combustion in concentrations as low as 0.00046% obscuration per foot, offer advanced and Very Early Warning Fire Detection for specialized applications, as well as for sites requiring more careful consideration.

Because aspiration systems use a series of pipes with pinpoint holes to continuously sample the air for trace amounts of smoke, these detectors are well suited for prisons and other vandal-prone environments. The pipes can be run through the ceilings or other building components, well out of the reach of prying hands. Plus, any portion of the piping projecting through to the protected rooms is so minimal that it can even be difficult to see. Most importantly, aspiration detection provides enough time for personnel to plan or conduct a controlled response, whether it’s to suppress the smoke source or to evacuate a portion of the facility, which is important for protecting lives while maintaining security.

Aspiration detection can be installed in various areas of a facility and can be programmed at different sensitivity ranges. In a prison, range adjustment enables aspiration systems to work just as well in machine shops or boiler rooms within the prison as they do in individual cells or common areas, while allowing for differences in air quality, humidity, temperature and other factors.

Sprinkler Considerations

Fire sprinkler systems are yet another component of the fire and life safety system in prisons. Many designs are adjusted to minimize vandalism to the sprinkler heads. Because the sprinkler heads are an easy target, especially for bored inmates or institutionalized patients, pre-action fire sprinkler systems with pop-out designs are widely used.

An electronic valve controlled by the heat or smoke detection unit in pre-action fire sprinkler systems holds back water. Individual sprinkler heads open to release water onto the areas where it is most needed and concentrate the flow of water directly onto the fire.

Pre-action systems normally have only pressurized air in the pipe; merely releasing the air pressure will not allow water into the pipe. The pre-action valve is controlled by a releasing panel, which can be configured to release water after receiving one or multiple signals.

The fire and life safety system design for prison and correctional facilities takes on elements that challenge current detection technology. The high potential for vandalism and suicide attempts adds equipment considerations that can be easily overlooked by those unfamiliar with this environment. Understanding the features, listings and approvals for the devices is always a primary element of a system design.

Systems for prisons have unique considerations and elements outside of the typical standards and building codes. Care must be taken to ensure all aspects of the design have been properly evaluated to ensure the safest fire and life safety system possible.

OSHA Fire Response Regulations for Prisons

Locked Doors: According to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), correctional, mental and penal facilities have slightly different fire response regulations than other types of workplaces and public places. OSHA requires that all buildings have exit routes unblocked by any locked doors or other obstructions to a fast and efficient exit. In the case of mental, penal or correctional facilities, locked doors may block exit routes as long as supervisory personnel are continuously posted along the exit routes, as necessary, to allow a fast exit response in case of emergency. Guard personnel must be trained in emergency evacuation procedures and be prepared to unlock any doors at a moment’s notice. In these cases, according to OSHA regulation 1910.36(d)(3), exit route doors may be locked from the inside, given that the facility has an escape plan in place.

Means of Egress: OSHA requires that all public places and workplaces have a clearly marked, easily navigable means of egress, or exit route, in case of an emergency such as a fire. This means of egress must meet all of the criteria for regular workplaces. Locked, guarded doors are permissible in correctional facilities, however. Otherwise, the facility must have at least two exit routes and as many additional routes as necessary to allow full evacuation in a timely manner. The main exit door of the exit route must remain unlocked and must swing outward, hinging on the side.

Alarms and Detectors: Any fire extinguishers, alarms and detectors all undergo regular inspection and testing to ensure their proper functioning as required by OSHA. The precise number of fire extinguishers, alarms and detectors required in a correctional facility varies by state and even locally, according to which version of the National Fire Protection Association code an area uses as its standard. As part of emergency readiness training, all guard personnel must be trained and capable of using fire extinguishers as needed.

In addition, you’ll find training and white papers on ECS-related subjects, including codes and standards and meeting intelligibility requirements for voice evacuation systems. Finally, you’ll find information on new software tools that can help you design intelligible voice evacuation systems for your ECS projects.

The System Sensor 5600 Series of mechanical heat detectors come in a variety of configurations to meet your application needs. To find the 5600 Series heat detector for your project, visit systemsensor.com/heat.

SpectrAlert^® Advance Dual Strobe and Dual Strobe with Speaker Expander Plates provide dual strobe and speaker strobe functionality that’s easy for a single person to wire and install. Simply mount the plate to a junction box and connect the field wiring to the terminals. To complete the installation, hinge and attach the strobe or speaker strobe device with a single captured mounting screw.

Dual Strobe and Dual Strobe with Speaker Expander Plates are designed for use in 12 or 24 volt, DC or FWR (full wave rectified) systems. Amber lens strobes are UL 1638-Listed (Visual Signaling Appliances) for Private Mode General Utility Signaling. All SpectrAlert Advance products are suitable for use in synchronized systems. To learn more, visit systemsensor.com/ecs.

The 5151 replaces the 5451 heat detector and carries the same electrical properties in a newer, more modern package. The new housing matches other System Sensor conventional products, enabling you to provide your customers with a consistent look throughout their facilities. For more information on the 5151, visit systemsensor.com/heat.

If you don’t, this issue is still for you.

Your typical client projects need not fall squarely in the “extreme” category to benefit from innovative and integrated fire and life safety strategies that target that market segment. When you think about it, when is a project ever truly ordinary? Don’t most projects have some unusual twist or challenge that makes them extreme in their own regard?

A community center may be considered fairly ordinary. Yet if it has a multi-story atrium where smoke could be trapped and not reach standard smoke detectors, then it, too, has an extreme design feature that requires special planning. Think about the janitorial supply room in a theater, the chemistry lab in a school or the auto shop attached to a retail store. These areas present hazards that are unique within the context of their surroundings.

The thinking that goes into designing extreme fire and life safety systems also applies to more ordinary situations, and includes thoroughly understanding the environment to be protected, applying codes properly and deploying safety measures to ensure that suppression systems don’t do more harm than good.

This issue’s Ask the Expert columnist states: “Each environment has to be evaluated on its own merits to determine the best integrated solution.” System Sensor can assist you with a broad variety of solutions as you assess, design and install the proper combination of systems to do the job right.

By Todd Alford

Manager of Product Marketing, System Sensor

Environments with high airflow or excessive temperatures, such as freezer or cold-storage warehouses, require robust and flexible fire protection solutions. These extreme environments present unique fire detection and suppression challenges that do not follow standard fire and life safety design. For example, while extremely cold, these warehouses can have such dry atmospheres that fire can spread faster than normal. As a result, each scenario needs to be evaluated to provide the necessary protection. Because there is no one-size-fits-all fire and life safety solution, familiarity with all technologies associated with fire detection, notification and suppression are important for designing a dependable and suitable system.

Cold-storage warehouses typically handle a variety of materials, including wooden pallets, boxes of food, fiberboard containers, egg cartons, waxed paper, cloth wrapping, and grease impregnated paper or cloth. Some of these items are highly combustible.

These warehouses also may have freezers that operate at temperatures of –31°F (–35°C) with high airflows; storage areas often operate at a more moderate 39°F to –4°F (4°C to –20°C) with reduced air movement. These low temperatures have an adverse affect on the smoke plume, which is cooled more rapidly than in normal environments. Hence, only fires with great intensity generate sufficient heat to raise the smoke to ceiling level where standard, ceiling-mounted devices would be installed.

Under steady-state conditions, humidity does not pose a problem. Moisture levels can increase, however, due to external air entering the area via normal movements (ingress/egress) and because of routine frost/thaw. Any moisture condenses and quickly freezes on thermal transfer points such as walls and ceilings, including spot-type smoke detectors.

Spot-Type Photoelectric and Ionization Detectors

Ceiling-mounted chiller-fan-coil units or ventilation systems commonly maintain freezers at temperatures well below the operating range of traditional spot-type smoke detectors. As a result, spot-type ion or photoelectric detectors are typically not an option for protecting these spaces. The normal UL listings for these devices would not allow them to be used in environments below 32°F (0°C).

Ion detectors offer limited or slower capabilities in areas with high airflow, which is typical in cold environments. They are not recommended for use with airflows above 300 feet per minute (fpm) (3.8 mph) per NFPA 72.

Traditional and high-sensitivity photoelectric smoke detectors, however, are a potential option in areas maintained above 32°F (0°C) as they can be more responsive in high-airflow environments.

Photoelectric smoke detectors typically use a pulsing infrared light emitting diode (LED) located in a sensing chamber designed to exclude light from any external source. A photodiode is placed at an angle to the LED so it normally does not register the column of light emitted by the LED. When  smoke enters the chamber, the LED  pulse is scattered by the smoke particles and registered by the photodiode. If the photodiode “sees” smoke at a sufficient level, the detector goes into an alarm state. Higher sensitivity can be achieved by replacing the standard infrared LED with a laser light source.

Beam Smoke Detectors

Beam smoke detectors may be necessary in cold storage areas with high, open spaces to cover the peaks that typical spot-type detectors might not be able to effectively protect or when smoke might not reach the ceiling due to stratification. These detectors have a wider operating temperature range than typical spot detectors and work well in colder environments. Beam smoke detectors also include a full line of accessories, such as heater kits that counter the effects of condensation on the reflector and the optics, heavy-duty mounting kits, and long-range kits to help installers meet a variety of application requirements.

A beam smoke detector is made up of three main parts: the transmitter, which projects a beam of infrared light; the receiver, which registers the light and produces an electrical signal; and the interface, which processes the signal and generates alarm or fault signals. When smoke particles obstruct the beam of light and a pre-set threshold has been exceeded, the detector goes into alarm. A reflected beam smoke detector is a single unit that includes the transmitter, the receiver and the control electronics. The transmitter projects a cone-shaped beam of modulated infrared light to a reflector (prism). The reflector returns the beam to the receiver, which measures the amount of light received and converts it to a signal for processing in the control electronics. Reflected beam smoke detectors provide a very wide coverage area – up to 19,800 sq. ft. (330 ft. x 60 ft.) – and include a reflector mounted opposite the transmitter/receiver. Only one device needs to be wired.

Aspirating Smoke

Aspirating smoke detection provides detection in high-airflow environments by actively sampling air from a protected zone via multiple sampling holes in a pipe network. They are also well-suited to hot, cold, or other extreme conditions because the sampling ports can be run into the difficult space while the device can be mounted in a more easily accessible, remote location to protect it from extreme conditions. In addition, one device can typically protect a large area, reducing the time and effort it takes to monitor, maintain and service the fire system. For cold applications, the air may need to be warmed and pass through condensation traps before it reaches the device.

Fire systems for cold environments must often contend with both the extreme temperatures and high air flow to be effective.

An aspiration system uses a fan to actively draw in air through a network of piping. The sample then passes through a filter and into the sensing chamber of the detector. Using advanced sensing technology, the detector analyzes the air sample and sends a signal of airborne smoke intensity to a remote or integrated display module – as well as a fire detection panel, when necessary – to raise an alarm.

These detectors communicate information to a fire alarm control panel or a software-based building management system through relays or a communication interface. Personnel can receive e-mail status updates, communicating alarm levels, urgent or minor faults.

The multiple warning levels of this system can trigger different responses at different stages of a fire, from controlling air conditioning systems to initiating suppression release. To accommodate specific codes or environments, alarm relays can be set from 0 to 60 seconds.

Suppression

Sprinkler protection in cold storage requires careful design of dry-pipe sprinkler or antifreeze systems. Maintenance retesting of such systems requires even more care. There are three common options: dry, pre-action or clean agent systems and less commonly used anti-freeze treated fire sprinkler systems.

Dry-Pipe Fire Sprinkler System

Dry-pipe fire sprinkler systems offer immediate protection in areas prone to freezing temperatures. These systems use pressurized air or nitrogen to hold pipe valves closed and prevent water from entering the pipes. When a fire triggers operation via the fire sprinkler head(s) activating and exhausting the compressed air or nitrogen, the valves open and water flows through the pipes to the open head(s). Dry systems are used where the area protected by the sprinkler system is subject to freezing. Because dry systems take longer to respond to a fire than a wet system, different design criteria account for the delayed response.

Pre-Action Fire Sprinkler System

When a delayed response is unacceptable, such as a refrigerated or freezer warehouse with contents that would develop high-challenge fires, a pre-action fire sprinkler may be appropriate. Pre-action fire sprinkler systems operate on basically the same premise as dry-pipe fire sprinkler systems. An electric solenoid controlled valve activated by the heat or smoke detection unit via a releasing panel holds back the water. Individual sprinkler heads open to release water onto the areas where it is needed and concentrate the flow of water directly onto the fire after the valve has tripped, flooding the piping system with water. Just as in a wet pipe system, only the fire sprinkler heads exposed to the extreme temperatures from the fire open, spraying water only where it is needed to extinguish the fire.

Like dry systems, pre-action systems normally have only pressurized air in the pipe. But unlike a dry system, merely releasing the air pressure in a pre-action system will not allow water into the pipe. The pre-action valve is controlled by a panel, which can be configured to release water after receiving one or multiple signals.

Clean Agent Fire Suppression Systems

Clean agent systems are waterless,  gas-based flame suppression systems that, when activated, discharge as a gas, reaching all areas of the facility. FE-13 fire suppression systems protect large areas, storage areas for flammable liquids, high ceiling structures, low temperature environments, and turbine enclosures. These systems, which have the lowest toxicity of any clean agent, do not leave a residue behind after usage, which could damage sensitive equipment, or require costly cleanup. FE-13 will not conduct electricity, is non-corrosive and is an environmentally preferred alternative to Halon 1301.

Antifreeze Treated Wet Pipe Fire Sprinkler System

Antifreeze solutions can be added to wet pipe fire sprinkler systems that have a potential to be exposed to freezing temperatures on an occasional or temporary basis. Regardless of which detectors and systems are used in the fire and life safety design in an extreme building environment, all must be networked into one central location. All extreme environments pull from a vast variety of fire protection technologies to protect occupants, stabilize building conditions, and contain and extinguish the fire, if possible.

The Future of Fire Detection Technology

In their July 2011 webinar, The Future of Fire Detection Technology, System Sensor Research and Development Engineering Manager, Scott Lang and Marketing Manager, Todd Alford, discussed trends in fire detection technology, including ionization, photoelectric and multi-criteria detection. They also examined how the different technologies work and which are better suited for different fires and nuisances.

Intelligibility Code and Software

During the August webinar, Got Intelligibility? EASE Evac Voice Evacuation Design Software Can Help, Christa Poss, System Sensor Marketing Manager, discussed how EASE Evac voice evacuation design software from AFMG Technologies may help designers and installers save time and money on voice evacuation systems by enabling them to preplan the system to meet new intelligibility code requirements, reduce costly post-installation changes, and limit over-design. She also discussed new intelligibility code requirements.