Devices had to blend into the architecture throughout the capitol, including the Capitol Expansion (far left) that was completed in 1993, as well as in one of the original courtrooms.

Built in 1888, the Texas Capitol in Austin is the largest in gross square footage of all state capitols and is second in total size only to the National Capitol in Washington D.C., yet nearly 15 feet taller. Though heralded by preservationists for its 15th century Italian architecture, the Texas Capitol needed to update its fire and life safety protection by replacing its discontinued legacy systems that had reached the end of their lifecycle.

Koetter Fire Protection of Austin was responsible for retrofitting the fire and life safety system throughout the main capitol building, as well as the four-level, 667,000-square-foot underground extension that effectively doubled the floor space of the entire capitol complex upon its completion in 1993.

Besides being sensitive to preserving this historically significant building, the Koetter team understood that the Texas Capitol is also a high-profile, state facility that has to maintain strict security procedures. As an installer, that meant being accompanied by a security escort at all times and working at a busy facility with hundreds of daily occupants.

“You work by their schedule with the goal of ‘No impact to any of the operations of the state processes in the capitol,’” says Jason Ferguson, vice president of Koetter. “Also, the capitol systems have to stay online, so maintaining coverage is critical.”

The ease of detector replacement aided Koetter in maintaining proper fire and life safety protection at all times during the installation process. “Basically, the timeline challenge was to have the system minimally impacted as far as coverage,” says Ferguson, adding that compatibility between the old and new detection systems was the key to continuously maintaining appropriate coverage. The replacement included the fire alarm control panel and smoke, heat and duct detectors. Managing the replacement in phases met the capitol’s operations requirements and scheduling requests.

“The great thing about System Sensor and NOTIFIER^® is that the two companies have continued to design for the future of our existing customers,” says Ferguson. “A practice of remembering the ones who brought you to your level of business and giving them their due consideration allows for decades of a continued business relationship. Their business mindset assisted Koetter with moving this customer from their legacy equipment to today’s current equipment standards.”

Koetter replaced the legacy detectors while the capitol’s legacy NOTIFIER FACP equipment was still in place, and then swapped the NOTIFIER Model 2020 fire panel with a new Model 3030 panel. In all, Koetter installed about 1,300 System Sensor photoelectric smoke detectors (NOTIFIER Model FSP-851), 50 FST-851R heat detectors and 170 InnovairFlex™ duct smoke detectors, which work in conjunction with one another throughout the main building and the extension.

Although the installation was simplified by the technology compatibility and use of existing detection locations, Ferguson says that the unique nature of the building, which includes various atria, arches and other architecturally imposing building features, made maneuverability difficult at times. Some devices had been strategically located to blend into the look and feel of the building, which challenged installer access.

But Ferguson maintains: “The process was as much a challenge as the location. This type of retrofit requires long-term planning and studying of the customer’s requirements. You have to know them and their system.”

Hospitals are complex buildings in terms of fire safety — quite different from any other type of building. As a result, in a dedicated patient-care environment, fire systems can be very complex and several common practices may not apply. So the task of designing and implementing a hospital fire system can be a challenging one. One of Denver’s oldest and most progressive hospitals, St. Anthony Central, will be taking on this task as the hospital embarks on a new period of its history by constructing a new campus in Lakewood, Colo., to replace the existing facility.

As it has for its more than 100-year history, the hospital will continue showcasing the latest advancements in medicine. It will also potentially become the largest hospital in the Western U.S. The main structure will consist of two towers: the three-story Ortho Tower, which is in phase 1, and an eight-story Hospital Tower, which is in phase 2. That’s 880,000 square feet upon completion — with six to seven more medical office buildings anticipated.

When it came to the fire and life safety systems, coordination was necessary between the electrical contractor and the fire and life safety systems contracting company, which was chosen by the electrical contractor and the electrical engineer.

For Commercial Specialists of Southern Colorado, LLC, it was just another job that happened to be a big one — albeit with some requirements unique to the hospital setting. “We are very methodical about how we put all this together, how we engineer it, how we install it, how we close out the job,” said Dean Doiron, executive manager of Commercial Specialists. “We go through the same processes as we do on a strip center; all the processes are the same from the beginning to end. It’s just that the magnitude changes.”

Phase 1, Ortho Tower – System Design

Key to designing an effective fire alarm system in a hospital is the recognition that the system is not a stand-alone entity; it is a component of the overall fire safety solution. Although it is common practice to fully evacuate other buildings, such as a school, when the fire alarm sounds, many occupants of a hospital cannot simply get up and leave. Unless it is absolutely necessary, it is unrealistic to evacuate intensive care patients and others in elderly care, for example, as well as surgeons engaged in intricate procedures at the time of the alarm.

Therefore, for a hospital fire system to operate successfully, a great deal of information is required, not only about the layout and structure of the building, but also the activities that are carried out in particular areas and the interaction required with other services.

In complex, modern hospital buildings, code is another significant factor. The codes are all structured to apply to a hospital’s unique disposition. What took this project up a notch, however, was that the West Metro Fire Marshal follows an amended IBC 2006 code that calls for full detection in every room. “In the 27 years I’ve been involved in this business, this is the largest set of shop drawings we’ve ever done. It was about 70 full-sized sheets just to design the fire alarm system,” stated Doiron.

In all, the project included about 2,500 smoke detectors, including 400 for the Ortho Tower and 275 duct smoke detectors. Ninety-eight percent of the 2,500 detectors will be addressable.

The size and magnitude of the design dictated how much control and field equipment was necessary to accommodate the work needed. The System Sensor fire and life safety addressable devices are supported by NOTIFIER® control panels, which all feed into one network. All of this was installed and tested without a hitch — bringing the Ortho Tower fully operational for its opening in spring 2010.

Fire and life safety integration fundamentals, backed by methodical and meticulous planning, were key to this seamless creation. “We were able to leverage our expertise of fire and life safety system integration to enable a smooth transition,” Doiron said, “by bringing together code information and system requirements for a unified and efficient fire and life safety system.”

New notification devices and control panels are part of a much-needed upgrade for a luxury Florida condo building.

A complete renovation of the fire and life safety systems was needed for a Sarasota, Florida, condominium building built in 1976. The Lido Surf and Sand Condominiums building, located on Lido Beach on Florida’s Gulf Coast, had numerous problems with substandard wiring, inferior workmanship and outdated equipment, stemming from a previous retrofit. A new system, consisting of Silent Knight fire alarm control panels and System Sensor notification devices, brought the building and its residents to an entirely new level of protection and life-safety readiness.

Located on one of Florida’s best beaches, the Lido Surf and Sand, just short of the 75-foot threshold for high-rise code, is a luxury condo building that includes 106 residences and all the amenities. A large number of the building’s residents are seniors, so consideration had to be given to adding a voice evacuation feature with a crisp, clear transmission to the notification package. In addition, the system needed to be heard over the high ambient noise levels resulting from its oceanfront proximity.

Michael Brennan, lifeline product manager for Draka, recounts his experience with ExitPoint™ directional-sound technology during a middle-of-the-night evacuation at his hotel.

I was staying overnight in a hotel in Ontario, Canada. It was about 1 a.m., and I was asleep in the room. Then I heard the fire alarm go off – and being that I work in the fire-protection industry – I reluctantly got up. I thought for sure this was a false alarm, but it would be just my luck to get injured in a real fire.

So I got dressed and walked out of my room. I then realized I didn’t know where the fire escape was or any of the stairwell locations. I was a little nervous about that.

But then I heard this horrendous noise that attracted my attention – almost like a white noise, repeating itself. It was intuitive to look for the source of the noise. It was coming from a sounder located right above a door. I then knew it was meant to lead me to the stairwell. Sure enough, that’s exactly where I was supposed to go.

A couple months later, I was listening to a life-safety presentation hosted by the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, and the speaker, Dan O’Connor of Schirmer Engineering, was talking about directional-sound technology. He turned on a sounder device and I immediately knew I’d heard that noise before; it was that same annoying sound I had heard at that hotel in Ontario. It’s interesting how a noise can draw your attention so much and lead you to safety. When you hear it, you intuitively look around to find the source of the sound. In a situation where you have smoke obscuration, if you can draw people to the exits by sound, you are doing pretty well. If you set this as a standard, and more people become accustomed to the sound and understand what it is, it will make the exits easier to find.

The bottom line is: Directional-sound technology will save lives.