I found this white EST SIGA-278 pull station in a parking garage yesterday. Has Anyone seen these before? There were several throughout the building.
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I don’t believe I for one have ever seen any evidence of their existence, so that could just be a custom paint job (though I do know that Edwards has made them in yellow for fire suppression systems). That might actually be against code since last I heard pull stations have to be a contrasting color from the wall they’re mounted to for locatability, & that one isn’t as it blends in well with the white cinderblocks it’s up against. Good find though!
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It would make sense if it was just painted since I could not find anything about white siga pulls online. Looks like they did a good job though if it is custom
I know that the code in my area requires red pull stations, no matter what they are mounted on.
No clue why considering that contrast for visibility is exactly why a lot of pull stations are made in white, plus the fact that NFPA 72 is a federal standard & thus should logically override anything & everything below it (aside from what AHJs stipulate, but sometimes I genuinely think they shouldn’t have a say since them approving something that goes against federal standards like NFPA 72 is what gets people killed).
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Although I’ve never seen this variant mentioned in any documentation, I have come across another photo showing an identical white SIGA-278 (perhaps it was from the same building as this one). The fact that the label with the EST logo looks like it’s applied over the white finish leads me to believe that the pull station likely left the factory wearing this colour.
A parking garage is one of the last places where I’d expect to see white pull stations. I can’t imagine that aesthetics are of much concern in this type of installation, so that makes the find even more interesting!
I’m thinking that the installer must’ve had these left over from a different project, and they just reused these here due to the aforementioned unimportance of aesthetics in a parking garage.
Oh yeah, didn’t even think about it being a special order from Edwards rather than an on-site painting job.
Maybe. Still likely violates the bit of NFPA 72 that says pull stations must be a contrasting color to the wall they’re on though.
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I am not sure, but I think NFPA is just guidelines and not necessarily law. It just depends on state and local codes, most of which follow NFPA guidelines with some potential modifications or additions.
Yeah. Sometimes I honestly wish it was law though: then maybe the rate of injuries & fatalities from fires would go down drastically.
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NFPA 72 (17.17.10.3) and IBC (907.4.2.3) require pull stations to be red, but NFPA 72 allows the pull station to be a different color if the environment precludes the use of red plastic or paint; this requirement isn’t unique to your area. Section 104.2.4 of the IBC allows requirements to be modified when their strict application would be impractical for special reasons, and the inability to use red plastic/paint would likely meet this criterion.
NFPA 72 (17.17.6) does require the background to be a contrasting color, but the effect of that requirement is that the area of a red wall immediately surrounding the pull station must be repainted to a different color (e.g. white) if a pull station is installed.
Oh? Well, companies still offer white pull stations anyway as another option I guess.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a white fire alarm pull station as a mainline product from any brand (though special orders like this obviously exist) because of the requirement for fire alarm pull stations to be red except in the obscure case of keeping red paint out of the room. There are some non-red pull stations for non-fire purposes, but I don’t think I have ever seen a white one.
This Reddit thread seems to have similar comments to this thread here.
I just noticed that this is mounted on a white wall, so even if using white pull stations was an acceptable way to make them contrast from the wall, that doesn’t apply here. I doubt the parking garage environment prohibits the use of red materials, since the FIRE lettering and EST logo are both red.
Oh, alright. Funny then that notification appliances are what are more commonly produced in white as well as red.
They aren’t required to stand out in most places, as they draw attention to themselves when it is needed. That’s why things like Concealite exist, and why manufacturers offer custom coloring to match walls.
Also, just an additional note for context: the parking garage had white est genesis speaker strobes throughout the garage and above the pull stations; sorry I do not have any pictures
Yeah, I know, but rather surprising then that pull stations, which are what need to stand out, are not largely produced in both colors.
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For what it’s worth, publicly accessible pull stations are also not required in most occupancies if sprinkler protection is provided and a single pull station is accessible to staff. IBC only prohibits the use of the sprinkler exception in the following occupancies:
- Group H-5
- Group I (excluding patient sleeping areas in I-1 and I-2 and detainee areas of I-3)
- Aerosol product rooms and warehouses (this may or may not have the sprinkler exception)
- Lumber, wood structural panel and veneer mills
- Deep underground buildings (>60 feet below exit discharge level)
NFPA 101 prohibits the use of the sprinkler exception in the following occupancies:
- Day care
- Health care (excluding patient sleeping areas)
- Ambulatory health care
- Existing lodging or rooming houses without fire alarm systems (where the pull station must be connected to the smoke alarms)
- New hotels and dormitories
- Apartment buildings with more than 4 stories or 16 dwelling units
- Residential board and care
These are generally not the occupancies that would benefit from heavily decorated walls near the exits, so I doubt there would be much to gain by changing the color of the pull stations. In other occupancies, it should be fine if voluntarily provided pull stations don’t meet the requirements for standing out, since that is unlikely to cause any hazard (unlike fake pull stations).
Seeing that there is white 270s id say its plausible to be from factory
Is there? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one.