Fire alarms pics from my high school!

Fire Alarm General Discussion
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This might interest TrueAlertSpeakerStrobe. These are the fire alarm systems at Brockton High School, where I attended grades 9-12th. The system was installed when the school was originally built, in 1969-1970, but the school wasn’t opened until 1971. I’ve often mentioned this system on this forum, but not as frequently as the systems at the Davis Elementary School (Simplex 2001 system with 4051+80s) and Massasoit Community College (whole mix of Faraday, SAE and Fire-Lite with some Standard and Simplex). The fire alarm system here is very similar to the system at Belmont High School. My brother and my friend and I came to visit today, and we managed to get pics of the many things that were not ADA-compliant, and a few things that were (one bathroom had a braille sign, there was an electronic ramp, etc.) And of course, this included the fire alarm system. Here are the pics!


This is the panel that controls the main building. It’s an FCI panel; I just know it’s no longer being produced. Note the zone sheet that was placed on the panel, and that little label on the left side reads “FIRE DRILL.” I don’t know why it’s there; I just know that there is no switch near it. Maybe the sign is to indicate where the switch used to activate the alarms for fire drills is located behind the door. I do kinda wish they went with a Simplex panel instead of an FCI panel, since it was a Simplex system to begin with. (That thing labeled “Simplex” next to it is the master clock panel.)


These used to be the original panels or whatever; now they are just terminal cabinets. They look like they were Simplex panels. They still have panels like these in the Field House building (they didn’t appear to be 4246; I didn’t take any pics unfortunately, but they might’ve been a Simplex 4248 system).


These are 99% of the signals on the campus: Simplex 4040 horns behind the flush-mount grilles. These horns were loud enough to wake the dead! AND they were on Continuous! TSS’s Belmont High School has these, but they do March Time, while the horns at Brockton High School were on Continuous!


These are the pull stations: Edwards 270-SPOs. These can be found for the majority of the buildings. But they do not have them at the exit stairways, which is not a very bright idea IMO.

The majority of the ceiling devices throughout the school are Chemtronics heat detectors (the old metal ones with black bases), but these can be found near the elevator between the Red and Yellow houses…

System Sensor 2400s. I guess they must’ve either fixed up something with the elevator, or decided to have these put in to meet with fire codes (It seems to be a requirement that smoke detectors are installed right near the elevators.)


A weird smoke detector I found in the hallway between the Azure and Yellow sections, near the school police office and the main kitchen.


Look how high up the pull stations are! They were almost at eye level! My friend and I were practically "tsk-tsk"ing at this, as we were looking for the non-ADA compliance with the school (we found a LOT of them!)


Simplex 4251-20 pull in a second-floor hallway in the Red house. Look at the terrible condition it’s in! The white paint for the “SIMPLEX” text has been either rubbed off or painted over, and that tape on the lever is inexcusable (unless the lever is EXTREMELY loose). This obviously replaced a 270-SPO at one point. And unfortunately, like the 270-SPOs, it was installed way up high as well!


This is in the Field House building in the mens’ first floor entrance. It looks like a 270-SPO was removed, yet the 4040 horn remains intact. Not pictured are the 4251-20s in the swimming pool, and the 2901-9806 in the pool, as well as a 4040 that is NOT flush-mounted!


This is in the gym. The pull stations and horns are not properly protected! I hope they’ll install Stopper II covers over the pulls in the gym someday.


A newer-style Edwards 270-SPO in the gym. It’s also mounted up high, but it must’ve replaced an older 270-SPO that broke.


A newer Simplex 4251-20 pull station in the hallway in the Azure house that leads to the Fine Arts building. You can tell it’s definitely newer than the old 270-SPOs.


Here’s a ramp in the Fine Arts building, that was obviously later installed. At least this 270-SPO can technically be reached by people in wheelchairs!


Here is a better Simplex 4040 shot. We also made heavy note that with the exception of the two SpectrAlerts in the renovated TV studio, the rest of the school has NO strobes on their alarms!


Newer smoke detector near the elevator in the Fine Arts building. I think it is a Kidde smoke.


The Gamewell master box outside the Fine Arts building, next to a Simplex annunciator.

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Thank you so much for posting this! Yes those are what the 4040s at Belmont High look like! The 270-SPOs are in better shape at Brockton High than the ones at the field house in Belmont High. Also the pulls are mounted possibly higher at your HS than mine. And Belmont High has Chemtronics 500 series (metal) heat detectors throughout the building, with a 600 series in my spanish class, and a 600 series along with either a 400 series or Simplex heat detector in the weight room. The main difference between your HS and mine is the pulls. The pulls at my HS are 4251-113s. Also, did Brockton High have any smokes besides those ones you posted. The smokes at Belmont High are these old smokes that have a grille that takes up half of the smoke and looks like two quarter circles. There are also a lot of TrueAlarms. Overall, maybe the installers that did Brockton High could have done Belmont High.

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I do agree that the installers that put the old system in Brockton High probably also did Belmont High as well! Those smokes, in addition to an old 9-volt First Alert, are the only smokes I found. None of the smokes looked like what you described, but it is still possible, what with Belmont and Brockton both being in Massachusetts. This high school has three separate systems that are not linked together, so when they do fire drills they either do them in a certain order (main building first, Field House next, Fine Arts last) or they have people at each building’s panel at the same time to set off all their alarm systems). Did you actually see the panel at your school yet? Usually they are put in the main office, if not then it might be in an electrical closet.

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Sadly, no :frowning: . If I do see it I’ll tell you what it is, but it’s probably in the main office. There is a red annunciator in there though, it looks pretty big for one. I haven’t seen the panel though.

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Does it look something like THIS?

http://i.pbase.com/g3/18/14218/2/102162199.4W0evTB3.jpg

Then that means it might go to a Simplex 2001 panel.

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I get a forbidden error.

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Try THIS:

http://www.pbase.com/fraser_eng/lawrencehousing

It is the eleventh picture down.

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I don’t think it’s that. It’s about that size, but the controls are black.

9

Then does it vaguely resemble this?

1 Like
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That looks more accurate, I will confirm this when I see the annunciator close enough. Who makes that?

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Simplex (It’s a 4208 annunciator).

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Yes, it definitely goes to a 4208. It could be possible your school originally had a Simplex 4208 panel.

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Well, today I went back to Brockton High School to pass out fliers to the principal, associate principal and other main staff members about my college’s Helping Hands club. And of course my friend and I went around to see what was ADA-compliant since we last visited, and unfortunately, nothing has been changed yet. Here are pictures of this visit:


This Edwards 270-SPO pull station is WAY high up. You can see the floor on the bottom of the picture. This pull station was practically at eye-level to me! (I am a tall kid at 5’9", so this makes sense). We pointed this out as a major no-no in terms of ADA codes. Some were a little lower than this but still did not meet codes.


Same pull station, but this time I also included the Simplex 4040 above it. I checked through the grilles of all the ones I saw and yes, they are indeed all 4040s (I didn’t see the 2901-9806 in the pool though).


A VERY dirty Simplex 4040! My friend and I were practically shocked at seeing this! If they don’t upgrade the system this summer, at LEAST I hope they clean that horn!


The 270-SPO pull station underneath is just as dirty, if not worse. My friend didn’t think putting them between lockers was such a good idea.


A Simplex 4040 with a loose screw.


These are located at four of the main buildings’ entranceways. I think they used to be Simplex annunciators, but not anymore. (Remember, they now have an FCI panel in the main building.)


This is outside the main building. Next to the Gamewell city box is what looks like the original outdoor annunciator. I am not sure if it still works.


On the lighter side, I WAS able to get a pic of the Field House’s panel/annunciator. It’s a Simplex 4247 system (I read the label on one of them). Pretty old, obsolete-looking system. I believe the main building used to have this setup as well.


The trouble bell, next to another bell (probably to let you know the system is in Alarm mode). Looks like they were painted over, as they have no visible Simplex logo. They look like 4-inch Simplex bells (Autocall originally made these bells, to my knowledge.)


The label on the bottom of the Simplex 4247 panel.


I found this in a corridor in the Fine Arts building. It’s a 9-volt First Alert smoke detector that obviously does not appear to be connected to the alarm system! Is that even legal?


The Simplex 4251-20 pull in the Fine Arts building. It’s a little dirty but still looks newer than all the 270-SPOs in the building. I am sure this replaced an Edwards 270-SPO some time in the 1980s or early 1990s.

I STILL was unable to get a pic of the SpectrAlerts and FCI MS-2 pull in the TV studio :evil:

My friend and I also explained to the staff we met on how we are collecting box tops to raise money so we can help fix up the school to meet ADA standards (the school is practically poor in terms of money, so they have to follow grandfather clauses for now). Since this high school is well-praised and often labeled as one of the best high schools in the country, and is the largest high school in our state and the only public high school in my city, we said it was a shame such a good high school had to have a building that’s not in the best condition or up to code with current standards.

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That reminds me how dirty the 4040s in the field house at Belmont High are! The ones there have dirt on the sounder plates and two have been painted over. One of the painted over ones is loose from the wall and the cinder block around it is chipped. It looks like it will fall off any minute and it looks, but probably isn’t broken. I hope they fix it up or replace it with something like a TrueAlert.

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Reminds me of my mythology classroom from last semester:

Not only were there two 120VAC smokes installed in that room (which incidentally was in the Fine Arts building), but you can see the AS installed w/ the building system and next to it is a SpectrAlert! I have no clue what that goes to, although a hunch says for some reason it’s to the art museum’s security system (which is ADT), although the Simplex system covers that area too (http://www.dan.calvinet.com/AS2.JPG white ASs).

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Went back to visit the high school again, except today it was just me and my brother, so only I did the usual ADA-compliance duties for our Helping Hands Club at college. So far not much has changed.


Simplex 6400 master clock panel. Looks like it controls all three buildings’ clock systems. Next to the 6400 you can see the main building’s crappy FCI-72 alarm control panel.


They still have those ear-raping Simplex 4040 horns, too…


The Edwards 270-SPO pull stations weren’t changed either. They’re still pretty high up!


Look at the SIZE of that Simplex clock! Even though Simplex (and IBM back in the 1950s) made this type of clock in many different sizes, it doesn’t quite fit on the clock/PA speaker unit frame. Apparently this was done some time ago because one of the teacher’s eyesight is going bad and a bigger clock is needed. Pretty cool, actually. (This is in the Fine Arts building.)


This pull station in the Fine Arts building is like six feet high! It’s so close to the 4040 horn! I was practically "tsk-tsk"ing at this (for ADA codes).


IDK what Simplex called these, but a couple of these can be found on the penthouse floor on the Fine Arts building; Chemtronics 400-series heat detectors. They look like they’re the originals. The rest of the campus is mostly Simplex 4255 (a.k.a. Chemtronics 500-series) heat detectors.


Near that pictured heat sensor is a Simplex 4251-20 pull, obviously replacing an Edwards 270-SPO pull some time in the late 1970s or the 1980s. Seems more like a Simplex system with these pulls instead of the Edwards 270-SPOs.


Throughout campus, several of the walls got repainted. Some look pretty good like this around the alarms and pulls…


…but in the Red building, the some of the horns got painted over! I have to admit it looks kinda cool that way; aside from the screws painted too, the alarm almost looks new again! (The dirty 4040 I found last time was fixed up, too.)


The campus has three elevators. The one in the core section of the main building uses these System Sensor 2400 smokes for the elevator recall feature…


…but the other two uses these Gentex smoke detectors.


There are also some 9-volt First Alert smoke detectors scattered around the campus. These aren’t replacing any heat sensors. I guess some of the school staff decided to take smoke detection into their own hands since the main alarm systems do not have real smoke detectors.


The gymnasium recently had this 4040 reinstalled during the summer. Prior to that it was just behind another flush-mount grille. But now the 4040 is on a backbox mounted onto the old flush-mount grille. It looks pretty neat this way, but I’m hoping that alarm won’t take any damage some time soon! It reminds me of that rewiring install job at the Davis K-8 school (i.e. a Simplex 4051 horn on two backboxes on a 4050-80 plate).


Another shot of that 4040, but also including the tag on the side.


Speaking of Simplex 4040s without the flush-mount grilles, here’s another like that at a stairwell in the athletic building, except this one was always like this. Weird why they installed that one like this while the others were flush-mounted. Did they run out of the grilles or something?


The tag to the 4040. According to this, they run on 6VAC voltage.


At long last, I found a pull station here that really IS at an ADA-compliant level! This is in the swimming pool room. They have two Simplex 4251-20s replacing old Edwards 270-SPOs. Also note the alarm behind that grille is not a Simplex 4040; it’s a Simplex 2901-9806! It is either that or a newer Vibratone 350 (or the Simplex-branded equivalent if one ever existed).


Close-up of the 2901-9806. The flush-mount grille is all rusted, but the horn looks pretty good.


The other alarm in the pool is this rusty old Simplex 4040.


The other 4251-20 pull underneath. They’re in pretty nice condition, but then again, these were probably put in back in the 1980s or early 1990s (the school was built in 1969).


A System Sensor 5600 heat detector replacing a Simplex 4255 heat detector. At least they still have the old Simplex 4247 panel! This is in the boys’ locker room.


Replacement Edwards 270-SPO in the gymnasium. Note how it says “FIRE ALARM” on top instead of “LOCAL ALARM” like the others do, and it doesn’t have an Edwards logo on the bottom. Apparently the original pull got smashed by a ball at one point and needed to be replaced. (That’s my theory since this is in a gym.)


Replacement Simplex 4251-20 pull station in the Red building section. It doesn’t look as bad as it did last year (it must’ve been cleaned up a bit or something, last time it was pretty dirty and had tape over the lever!)

Well, that’s it. Any questions/comments?

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Ah yes, that clock/speaker. My middle school, the (now gone) Old High School, and the Vocational school all use those Clock/Speakers… and they all have (or had) Dukane PA systems. I believe this is a Dukane speaker.

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OMG! That IS high! I think only one of the pulls at my HS which is in the cafeteria is that high! There is no alarm above it so IDK how high it would be compared to them.

Same with my HS. I thought the 400 series were sprinklers as none of the ones at my school have trim plates. Now I know the difference. Most of the detectors are 500 series though, with some 600 series.

Same with my HS. The field house always gets repainted every year during graduation (the same colors). A couple 4040s have been painted over, although the actual horns haven’t, only the grilles. Also, one of them has SERIOUS damage. The horn is really dirty and the grille looks like it will fall off any minute. I will be seeing how it is tomorrow when I go to an activities fair in the field house. I will tell you how it looks. I doubt they fixed it up, but I sure hope so.

Weird install job.

None of the 4040s at my school were installed like this. All of them are flush mounted. Therefore, I have never seen the labels on them, but they have Simplex Chevrons, so that gives it away.

Too bad my HS doesn’t have any like this. It would make an already interesting system much more interesting. The alarms are the only thing that all of them look original or new-old stock.

Looks like it probably sounds raspy.

Overall cool pics. The only thing I have yet to see are the SpectrAlert horn/strobes and FCI-MS2. I also am sorry to say I cannot take pics at my school (its in the handbook) so I can’t picture any of the alarms.

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You may be right; the hallways also have stand-alone Rauland PA speakers.

I’ve also seen the newer version of those clock/speaker units at South Junior High School, installed during the 2003 renovation. The speakers have a different-looking grille, and most of the clocks are those newer round Simplex ones like this:

But one of them is a 1980s-style square Simplex clock with the big bold numbers and the “S” logo in the center underneath the hands. Looks like it’s probably a replacement clock; I know Simplex still makes them.

Yeah, every time I visit there, the TV studio with those alarms and pull is locked! I have the feeling that TV studio actually has its own alarm system tied into the Fine Arts building’s system.

And I have to admit, while the main building is rather dull in terms of alarms, the Field House is more interesting. But I DO think your school’s fire alarm system is quite more interesting than Brockton High School, probably because it looks more like a Simplex system (due to the pulls and smokes) and how it does March Time instead of Continuous.

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Yeah, overall, I agree. I like how my school has Chevrons, as it’s much more typical for a vintage Simplex system. Also march time is much better than continuous. Also I like how my school has smoke detectors too. It also has some modern equipment, including some TrueAlarms, and four 2099s (one in the field house, one in the boys locker room, and two in the pool room). Here is what would make the system even cooler:

If they stuck with Simplex the whole time. They had Honeywell servicing in the late 70s early 80s. I think it would be cool if Simplex was servicing, as I bet there would be more equipment from that era. Such as:

I bet they would have used 4251-20s instead of BG-6s on the dead Chevrons. I bet there would also be some wiffelball smokes.

Also it would be cool if there were some replacement alarms, but I guess there were none needed.