There’s a children’s hospital in Boston that has a somewhat surprising type of fire alarm system. As I may have said, Simplex is rather common in Boston, particularly voice-evac. This is one of them, but it’s an older one. It has the red Federal Selectone speakers (a.k.a. Simplex 4090 “bullseye” speakers) behind 2903 visual plates (IDK if they are light or strobe versions.) They also have 4251-20 pull stations, and I also saw one of those old 4259-36 smoke detectors (the ones made by ESL in the late 1970s and early 1980s.)
But the REALLY big surprise was the panel setup, located right in the main lobby. They actually have a Simplex 2001 voice-evacuation setup! There were several red-cabinet 2001s, along with one having an emergency telephone and mic. I also saw a couple of auxiliary panels of some sort in the same style, but with different-looking indicator lights. It is most likely from the early 1980s.
This was a real surprise to me, as Simplex 2001 systems are REALLY rare nowadays, and older Simplex systems are generally pretty rare in Boston (many were replaced with newer Simplex systems.) I was actually expecting the place to have a 4100-series system of some sort. Someone did mention some time next year or the year after that, they will upgrade to a newer Simplex system (probably the 4100ES.)
Usually the most common alarm company types I have seen in Boston are Edwards/EST, Simplex and the Honeywell family. There are a few occasional Cerberus Pyrotronics/Siemens systems, but that’s it. Even South Station is upgrading from Kidde to Simplex (North Station already has a full Simplex system, though.)
The norm I would see for EST systems would be Genesis and sometimes Integrity signals (varying between horn/strobe and speaker/strobe), and usually the 270 or 27B-style pulls, and the panel being an EST-2 or -3 or similar. The norm for Simplex is 4903 or TrueAlert-series signals (varying between horn/strobe and speaker/strobe), TrueAlarm smoke detectors and 2099/4099 pulls, and the panel being a 4100-series model.
Tonight I got to hear the fire alarm system at my work for a second time. It was another false alarm, but this one wasn’t caused by a child pulling it. This time, around 11:10pm, the utility guys at my work were cleaning the dishwasher, and when they opened it up, all the steam from the machine rose up, and set of the heat detector right above it. I was at the front and thought the kitchen was on fire, until I went back and realized it was just a false alarm. Like the last time I did help my manager out with resetting the panel and such.
I do have a short clip, since I didn’t catch the action at first, of the alarms going off for a round of code 3. The panel we have is a Mircom 1025T, and with these panels, the alarm silence switches have to be switched back first to reset the panel, causing the alarms to go off a second time.
I’m in my new office. We have one SpectrAlert and a Gentex strobe. Like I’ve mention in my last post in here, the building has a whole mish-mash of fire alarms, including a 34T, SpectrAlert Advance, and a few older ones that I don’t know the names
A few years ago, my mom took me for a walk through the Manitoba Heath Sciences Centre tunnels.
These tunnels connect the various HSC buildings, including the general hospital, U of M health sciences building, women’s pavilion, children’s hospital, cancer care, Variety Children’s Heart Center, and CancerCare Manitoba.
Anyway, these tunnels have an old Pyrotronics system, like many other of the HSC’s buildings. They use Pyrotronics MS-501 pulls, and Pyrotronics 6-inch bells. Everything is renamed “Pyr-A-Larm”.
Also, by the elevator up to the Children’s Hospital there was an old pre-ADA Wheelock CH-70 chime/strobe (although it could’ve been a speaker/strobe, since they have a Pyrotronics EVAC system).
Going a bit off-topic, there was a fire at the children’s hospital recently, and they had to evacuate 36 deathly ill children…
There’s a huge Macy’s in Boston near my Transitions to Work program, with a late 1990s Notifier voice-evac system. It has Wheelock E70 speaker/strobes, Notifier addressable smoke detectors and Notifier-branded BG-10Ls (and at least one BG-12.)
This morning as I passed by they were working on the alarm system there, and I could hear some of the evacuation message. It mentioned something about separate floor alarms, as this Macy’s is also connected to a high-rise.
This was also the first voice-evacuation system I heard in person that wasn’t a Simplex system!
Alright. I thought I would post a small and OLD system at a library in a town near mine.
The library was built in 1967, and is probably not much bigger than the typical suburban house. I haven’t seen it for myself, but I would assume the panel is a Simplex 4245/46/47.
The only notification appliance in the building is located by the main desk, and is an old Simplex STR red 6-inch bell.
The only initiating devices in the library are two Edwards 55 series break-glass manual stations; one is located by the main entrance and one by the emergency exit on the opposite side of the building (That station is blocked off by a file cabinet!).
From what I can see, there are no automatic devices in the building, and since the library is only open for about 40 hours a week, the system is most likely pointless.
A florist shop near where I work has Simplex TrueAlerts with Simplex pull stations. The bathroom and the small rooms have strobe only. Pulls are dual action Simplex T-Bars.
This hospital complex I go to ( sadly I might be going there soon :shock: ) has this Siemens system.
In the newer section it has Siemens S-LP70-MCS-W speakers in the new sections, all of the seimens/Cerberus Pyrotronics pulls except for the halon style pulls. In the really new section they have all the new Siemens detectors ( smoke I think ) and these weird speakers and Siemens pulls.
It also has some Seimens U-S17 strobes everywhere.
Now, for the cool part.
In the older “professional building” it has this older Faraday system.
Speakers:
ADA Faraday 5516 speaker strobes.
Faraday 5516 ceiling mount speakers.
Newer Seimens speakers strobes / strobes
Pulls:
Seimens, Cerberus Pyrotronics pulls, dual and single action.
Out in one of the parking garages they have a Chemtronics heat detector.
One of my grandparents lives in a 30-story retirement community in downtown Winnipeg. They have a Mirtone voice EVAC system, probably from the early '80s. The pull stations are Mirtone 73201s. There are System Sensor 2400 smokes in the hallways, old mechanical heat detectors in the suites, and the NAs everywhere are Wheelock 8 inch speakers. The ones in the hallways are ceiling-mounted, while the ones in the suites are wall-mounted. According to my grandparent, the alarm signal is a slow-whoop, followed by a live announcement of which floors need to evacuate. Usually, they will go to the refuge area on either end of the floor, since these are old people we’re talking about. There are also Edwards firefighter’s telephones in each elevator lobby.
While at my sister’s last ice-less hockey game, two kids pulled the fire alarm in the entrance corridor. Surprisingly, the 4040’s sounded (I had assumed they were disconnected after they installed the TrueAlerts). Nobody realized it was the fire alarm until the TrueAlerts went off, since the 4040s sounded just like the scoreboards. Needless to say, it was pretty cold outside.
That’s surprising how in the gym, both the old and new alarms are in use! They most likely still have the old Simplex panel active and tied into the 4010.
And I’ve never heard of Simplex-rebranded Gentex SHGs before either!
There used to be 2 of the SHGs in the gym before they were replaced when the other 2 TrueAlerts were added. I had never seen then either, although it seems like a common thing for Simplex to do, such as what they did with GX90s
That sounds interesting. I’ve never heard of a system like that. Anyways can you, by any chance post a picture of the simplex 4040? I wanna see a pic of it.
Today I went to the Boston Foundation building in Boston, MA for my Transitions to Work graduation ceremony. It has a Notifier voice-evac system of some sort (no surprise, given Honeywell is rather common in Boston, along with EST and Simplex.) There was an LCD-80 annunciator in the main entrance, which suggests this may be a late 1990s/early 2000s system. The alarms were Wheelock E70 speaker/strobes, and the pulls were NBG-10LXs. (I wouldn’t be surprised if there was at least one NBG-12LX somewhere in there too.) There were also System Sensor 2451 smoke detectors (probably the addressable Notifier version), along with a few FSF-751s and at least one FSP-851 detector.
There is also a Five Guy’s burgers and fries restaurant I like eating at in Boston that has a Gamewell system of some sort, with a late 1990s/early 2000s Gamewell annunciator at the main entrance (prior to the FCI merger) and Gamewell Century pulls rebranded by Easton Electronics with Stopper II covers. The unusual part is the signals used: multi-candela Simplex TrueAlert horn/strobes! I am not sure how this happened, but I have a couple of theories…
The place may have originally had a Simplex system, but they upgraded and kept the existing signals.
At one time they had Wheelock signals or similar, but after they made the place a Five Guy’s, the TrueAlerts were installed because Simplex probably did the alarm job (it was made into a Five Guy’s not too long ago, actually.)
The Arlington MBTA Green Line stop also has a Notifier system, not surprisingly, with NBG-12LX pulls. But what’s unusual for an MBTA subway station alarm system is the signals used: Wheelock ZNS horn/strobes! Usually I see Wheelock AS or MTs in those subway stops…
