At a local HEB, theres a system with Fire Lite BG-10s with Stopper covers on them. The NAs are Wheelock MTs with the WM strobe and the LSM strobe. There is also a xenon Exceder in white. Two MTs are suspended from the ceiling and some have cosmetic damage on them. I see smoke detectors in the employee area but I could not get pictures. I don’t know what the panel is.
Neat! Shame those two MTs are missing most of their beauty plugs & those other two are missing their strobe covers though, heh (not sure how either could have gone missing given they usually have to be removed very intentionally, but yeah).
Okay then…that’s quite an interesting setup…(wonder how they got both ceiling & wall-mount lettering on that 4904 at the same time): guess the system eventually needed visual notification in that spot (but apparently not the other one for some reason) & so they did that instead of putting up an actual TrueAlert ceiling-mount speaker/strobe, heh. Those smoke detectors (especially the diamond-grille Kidde/Lifesaver) have definitely seen better days as well, heh.
So my room mate got to hear the alarm in that building. The tone was “some buzzing sound” and the message was a non standard one, he said it sounded similar to this one.
This is a pretty large new building that is being built on the ND State Capitol grounds. It is replacing the very old and small lab that is across town. Here are some photos of the fire alarms I found online:
You can see that the devices are marked “ALERT”, and I’m sure they will be used for mass notification. I like that they are using remote speakers in addition to meeting the strobe requirements to ensure good voice intelligibility. As of now, I’m unsure whether this is a Simplex system or an Autocall system. I’ll try to report back later if I can find more information, or if I go there in person.
There is an addition being made to the Heritage Center across the street, which has a Simplex 4100ES voice system that replaced a 2001 system in 2011. The new addition will likely be an expansion of that system.
There are also some new buildings being built at colleges near me. One of them is on a campus that uses both Siemens and Simplex systems, and one is on a campus that uses exclusively Simplex systems. The one with a mix of systems has used Simplex in its newest buildings, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that is in the other new ones too.
I always love seeing new fire alarm systems, as it shows the trends of the popularities of the different brands in my area. Today, it seems that Honeywell has been mostly “eradicated” from new systems in my area, with only a few recent GW-FCI systems in smaller buildings. Other than that, I’m mostly seeing Siemens, Autocall, Potter, Simplex, and Edwards systems (in that order, starting with most popular) for new installs in my area recently.
This is pretty cool. The fire codes near me don’t appear to require any fire protection whatsoever for a “bubble” or “dome” for whatever reason. There are two of these places near me, with one being a golf driving range and indoor soccer field, and the other being a tennis/pickleball center. There is no fire protection at the golf dome, but the building that is connected to the tennis dome does have a fire alarm system:
These places would probably both have Siemens voice evac systems if the dome was required to have fire protection, as the Parks & Recreation departments of my city and the neighboring city own both buildings, and, as with many companies in my area, they use exclusively Siemens systems.
I was assuming that the “bubble” would have an EST/Honeywell horn strobe system, but I’m guessing modern codes called for voice evacuation. Not sure how fire detection works inside the dome since it is definitely not occupied 24/7.
Fire detection may not be required inside the dome. The fire alarm system may just be there solely to protect people who are there, and not the property while it is not occupied. Like I said, my area doesn’t even require notification or pull stations in the dome. They just require fire extinguishers, exit signs, and emergency lighting.
Interesting, I wonder why detection isn’t required, especially since it’s a large area with a high occupancy. I know there is duct detection, but that doesn’t account for any fires that start inside the dome.
I really don’t know why. Maybe because it could be considered a “temporary” building? I’ve seen plenty of extremely high occupancy “temporary” buildings that have only fire extinguishers and exit signs for emergency devices.
