Fire Alarms in Buildings (2.0)

[aerhardt]

@aerhardt

@aerhardt

Custer Elementary- Mandan, ND

It was just announced that, due to lowering enrollment of elementary students in the upcoming years, the smallest school in the district will likely be closing at the end of this school year. The school currently has around 100 students and 13 teachers. The students can be easily absorbed into the surrounding schools that are larger, and the staff are much needed around the district. No staff members will be loosing their jobs. It currently costs the taxpayers around twice as much per student at this school compared to the district’s other schools. It is unclear what will happen to the building, but the selling off of the land and the renovation or demolition of the building are very real possibilities within the next decade or so. If they don’t renovate the building, the fire alarm system would likely remain untouched for at least another decade or two. If they do, it’s possible that they would need to upgrade to a voice evac system. That would likely require a complete overhaul of the wiring, as I believe there are only two wires for the notification appliances, as they are still using the original wiring from the 70s Simplex 4207/4208 system (which there is still evidence of with some electrical boxes in a storage room). My mom and aunt went to this school in the early-mid 80s, so they would have experienced that system. Here is the current system:

@aerhardt

Panel: Simplex 4007ES

Notification Appliances: Simplex TrueAlertES horn/strobes and remote strobes

Pull Stations: Simplex 4099-9006 Addressable pull stations

Detectors: Simplex TrueAlarm Addressable smoke detectors and Addressable heat detectors

The system in between the original and the current one was a late 90s EST system (probably an LSS4 or something), but there is no evidence of that left. I just remember seeing it. If the current system is replaced, it will be the first of the 5 4007ES systems that were installed 8-11 years ago in all of the existing elementary schools in my district to be replaced.

They have officially made the decision to close this school. There is still no telling what will happen with the building after the school district sells it, but the community has made it clear that they still want the property to be focused on education and community. The roughly 70 kids from this school (not counting the ones who will move to the middle school next year) will move to the open space at other schools in the district, and the staff will fill much needed roles at other schools in the district. If they ever need more elementary school space again, they will add onto the existing elementary schools (especially the new school that was opened in 2023, and my former elementary school).

Major Update:

This past Thursday (5/21/26) was the last ever day of school for this building. However, there is some very good news: the building won’t be getting demolished! Instead, it will be a replacement for the local senior center. The building will be remodeled, and it will be repurposed to provide assistance, socialization, and activities for senior citizens in the community. Considering that the fire alarm, intercom, internet/wifi, and security camera systems in this building have all been fully replaced and upgraded within the past 10 years, it’s crazy to see that all go, but I’m very happy that this building is going to have a good purpose, and will not be demolished.

Here’s a horn/strobe I saw in the background of one of their “last day” celebration photos:

This device is one of the many TrueAlertES horn/strobes that can be found on the system. This device is in the gymnasium, and is located directly behind the basketball hoop, but it has no cage. This is how it was done when they upgraded several of the 1960s elementary schools in my district to 4007ES systems. Surprisingly, none of them have been damaged yet.