I don’t recall seeing any pull stations like that, but I have seen panels with keys in them. They recently built a Lowes near me, and in the main entrance, there is a Mircom annunciator or main panel, and there is a key right in it, which is a big no no. They also do this at my work, which is still a no no, but at least our panel is in a mechanical room and only employees can get to it.
I went into the local Petsmart again yesterday. Both the visible pull stations have keys left in them. The panel at the store doesn’t use a key.
Actually the nightclub used vertical strobe ASs, these ones: https://files.schuminweb.com/odds-and-ends/alarm-collection/feature-size/wheelock-as-2415-04.jpg
You can see it on the upper left corner of this picture, the strobe is clearly on the right and not on the center as would be with a MT: https://www.bostonglobe.com/rf/image_585w/Boston/2011-2020/2012/09/10/BostonGlobe.com/Arts/Images/NIGHTCLUB%20FIRE-628513.jpg
since stage pyro, smoke machines, etc is an expected thing, most stages have heats above them instead of smokes to prevent nuisance alarms. a lot of venue’s with smokes or beams above the stage or arena disable them during events. The code also says once a detector goes into alarm it has 60 seconds or more to trip the panel, so it’s not instant activation anyways.
But did the owners of The Station really intend to have regular pyro on the stage? The fact that they didn’t authorize Great White to use it (as well as the nightclub not having burned down sooner) suggests to me that they didn’t. And if accomodations for pyro weren’t made in the building itself (use of fireproofed foam), then it wouldn’t make sense to make such accomodations on the fire alarm system.
Where did we find this out? I’m not calling BS; I’m genuinely curious.
It’s an announciator right next to the entrance though… Not many people care to notice or will notice it.
For anybody that is interested, one of the reports about the Station Nightclub Fire had a picture before the building burned that had a picture of a Wheelock MT. I’ve tried to find it but I couldn’t get ahold of the report that had it. But it WAS an MT and NOT an AS.
Nevermind! It wasn’t a picture from a PDF file and was not found in the official reports. I remember now! It was this one! You can clearly see the Wheelock MT next to the exit sign.
Well, that’s interesting, because my picture seems to show an AS, and I think it was an old user of this forum who said he once visited the nightclub and saw ASs. Maybe they mixed models, or maybe what that picture shows is a remote strobe.
(Also, is it me or does that exit sign look unlit?)
I looked at the picture but I CANNOT see anything that resembles an AS at all in the picture or could I make anything out. And yes, that sign was unlit. One of the many code violations the idiot fire marshal (who once again, was able to retire and keep his pension) looked the other way on. If there were ASs in there, then it was either a mix or the MT replaced an AS but out of all the media I’ve seen, I’ve only seen an MT in the building.
The MT on horn sounds just like the AS.
I recall seeing a vertical AS in the NIST report, but I’d have to take a look at it again.
I’ve just been through the NIST report and the only pictures there are so far away they could either be MTs or vertical ASs.
smoke machines are a bigger concern than actual pyro.
And I KNOW MTs and ASs sound the same but they don’t look the same so I wouldn’t confuse them so if I see an alarm that looks like an MT, I go with it being an MT. I don’t need to be told that. But I’m almost positive I didn’t see any ASs there. Though I will admit it is possible.
The N/A in the upper right corner of that image is most definitely a Wheelock (or Siemens-rebranded) MT signal. When the AS had a vertical strobe it was in the corner, like the rectangular Simplex signals. Radionics rebranded that version of the AS for some time, and if you have an AS that’s supposed to be mounted on its side like that, it likely has the Radionics branding on it. I have never seen an AS with a vertical strobe in the center (and it would be really weird for Wheelock to make the MT in that design and offer a variant of the AS that looks exactly identical-it wouldn’t make any sense)
So Simplex4051 is right, definitely an MT in the picture. If there were AS signals in the building they were located elsewhere and were likely used as replacements when the MTs stopped functioning properly.
Oddly enough, page 194 of the NIST report (56k warning) says there were 4 horns and 5 strobes, possibly suggesting that there could be a remote strobe somewhere. There’s the possibility that what we see in the picture could be a Wheelock LSM remote strobe.
This is very true actually. Looking at it closer I can see it’s hard to tell if the red cover plate has a grille (which would indicate a horn behind it) or is just a red LSM strobe plate.
Looking through the report, it alternates back and forth between referring to it as a horn and just a strobe. I usually just go with it being a horn, HOWEVER the report did say that there was a newly installed alarm in the restroom hallway so maybe that could have been the vertical AS?