Upscale Fire Protection
Residents enjoy premier amenities, including life-safety equipment
- By Beth Welch
- Apr 01, 2011
Greg Evans, president of Generations Design Construction
Inc., planned to build a premier retirement community
in National City, Calif. Paradise Village, near the San Diego
harbor, opened as an all-inclusive resort, offering its active
senior and assisted-living residents an elaborate assortment
of convenient amenities.
As befits such an upscale development, Generations Inc.
was uncompromising in regard to the safety and comfort of the
Paradise Village residents. Sprawled across 12 acres, the campus
comprises four resident buildings, one assisted-living facility and
one large plaza that, by the time construction on two planned
buildings is complete, will encompass multiple amenities, including:
restaurants, a theater, a fitness center, conference rooms, an
Olympic-size indoor pool, a credit union and a chapel. Sky bridges
connect all the buildings.
The safety objective of Generations Inc. and Norm Smith,
Paradise Village’s executive director, was to install a fire alarm
and evacuation system that offered state-of-the-art protection
and was also flexible enough to comply with any future code
changes or property expansion with minimal financial outlay.
Evans found the IFP-2000 system manufactured by Silent
Knight, part of the Honeywell Fire Systems family, offered all
the features the code required as well as the specialized capabilities
he had written into the specification.
There is more to a large fire alarm installation than merely
procuring equipment. To be effective, fire alarm systems require
the proper layout and equipment to ensure their operation meets
local code requirements and the facility’s specific needs. Equally
important is the supervision of the system’s installation, programming
and sequence of operations. After a system is accepted
and commissioned, certified personnel must perform periodic
tests and inspections in accordance with codes and regulations.
For these reasons, the services of a local engineered systems distributor
(ESD) that has factory-certified technicians is essential.
Cavalry Systems Inc., a Silent Knight Farenhyt ESD in nearby
Poway, Calif., proved to possess the necessary engineering expertise,
licensing and certification, and high level of service capability
to meet these requirements. With a retirement and assisted
living community, rapid response to service issues is imperative.
Rapid Detection, Rapid Response
John Goodbody of Cavalry Systems used a Silent Knight IFP-
2000 addressable fire alarm control panel as the core of the
complex’s fire protection system, networking it with four RPS-
2000 control panels and six RPS-1000 intelligent power supplies
placed throughout the various buildings. The result was a single,
high-powered network monitoring nearly 1,500 sensory devices,
94 initiating devices, 41 sprinkler valve connections, 37 water flow
switches and a number of assorted auxiliary devices.
A substantial portion of Paradise Village residents would require
assistance in the event of an emergency evacuation. Therefore,
it was imperative that the facility’s trained personnel and the
municipality’s first responders receive immediate notification of
emergencies.
Electing to surpass common code requirements, Evans approved
two remote annunciators for installation within the entrance
guard shack and the 24-hour nurse station. Both annunciators
provide staff critical system information, including the
exact location and source of an alarm. While speeding the emergency
response of on-site personnel, the guard shack annunciator
at the main entrance can guide first responders to the appropriate
location(s) quickly.
Code typically requires that residential facilities have smoke
detectors with integral alarm sounders installed in each apartment.
These detectors are usually standalone devices not connected
to the building alarm system. Code allows the detectors
to annunciate within the facility, but it does not allow fire department
dispatch without specific fire marshal approval.
At the fire martial’s recommendation, Battalion Chief Robert
Hernandez of the National City Fire Department, Generations
Inc. and Evans decided to exceed code requirements with the installation
of system-connected smoke detectors with built-in audio
sounders in each apartment in place of the standalone smoke
alarm arrangement. If any smoke detector were to go into alarm,
it would activate integral sounders within the apartment and send
an alarm through to the main system -- an event that takes place
in less than 10 seconds. In addition to notifying the National City
Fire Department, the alarm system is programmed to alert Paradise
Village personnel via two-way radios.
To prevent the spread of smoke from a fire, Cavalry Systems
installed smoke sensors within air ducts to control the shutdown
of air-handling equipment. This is a necessity, as the sky bridges
that connect all Paradise Village buildings provide a potential
conduit for smoke.
Networking Benefits
Tests performed by Cavalry Systems before installation revealed
a substantial amount of noise that could interfere with the network’s
operation if traditional copper wire were used. As a result,
the company chose fiber-optic cable for its greater immunity to
noise. It is also known to be more impervious to lightning and
induced voltages.
The ability to tie each building’s fire alarm system to one network
was one of Evans’ primary demands. Such a network allows
the main IFP-2000 control panel and both remote annunciators
to report alarms, trouble alerts and other events from anywhere
on the campus.
The flexibility of the Silent Knight system network provided
an advantage for handling future expansion plans and any system
reconfigurations that may arise due to renovations or code changes.
The network also provides Cavalry Systems a secure means for
remote monitoring and control, which will help Cavalry’s technicians
troubleshoot any issues quickly and respond appropriately,
greatly reducing the cost of lengthy onsite servicing.
The fire protection system is a cornerstone of security in a retirement
community. Examples such as Paradise Village highlight
the critical role fast detection and response, and ease of monitoring
play in keeping retirement and assisted-living residents safe.
Moreover, the Silent Knight system’s reputation of performance
and flexibility can only help strengthen the reliability and lifespan
of such an important investment.
This article originally appeared in the April 2011 issue of Network-Centric Security.
About the Author
Beth Welch is the manager of public relations for Honeywell Fire Systems.