My Alarm Pics (2.0)

I thought ever since this had become “The Fire Panel,” I thought I’d start doing my alarm pics thread in this sub-board instead of the main board. This first post shows pics of two schools right next to each other, where some of my former teachers now work at. The first is from a middle school built in 1957-1958, and is similar to the school I went to for junior high…

Their main fire alarm panel is a Notifier NFS2-640 system. It used to only be a Gamewell FlexAlarm system; I think they may still have it in their basement somewhere. But this is a “partial” upgrade that was done in 2010…

The alarm signals I saw were these really old flush-mount Faraday horns (like flush versions of the Type 2!) Several were red…

Others were gray. Note the IBM clock and school bell next to it (the school was built with an IBM clock/bell setup, but the current master time panel is a Simplex 6400.)

Notifier FSP-851 addressable smoke detectors, which were installed in many areas.

NBG-12LX pull stations were also installed in many areas where there originally no pulls…

But the old Gamewell pull stations are still active! I wonder if this could cause any confusion?

The school across the street is a K-8 school that was built in 1974, and is nearly identical to the K-8 school I went to for kindergarten (it was formerly a regular elementary school.) Like the above middle school, this place currently has two fire alarm panels installed…

The system is a Simplex 4010 tied into an older Simplex 4208 panel. The 4010 was installed some time in the mid-2000s, replacing a 4004, and is typically used for newer duct detectors. The 4208 is used for the existing pull stations and heat detectors. It’s an older 4-zone 24-VDC 4208 system.

Most of the alarms are Simplex 4051 horns on 4050-80 light plates. But look, three of the 4050-80s in the building are this rare version that has WHITE “FIRE” lettering instead of the usual black. This is the only place I have ever seen them.

All the other 4050-80s have no “FIRE” lettering. Note how the horn is pushed into the light plate so the front of the grille lines up with it (earlier 4050-80 light plates were designed like this.) That bell next to it is a Simplex 6-inch 4090 bell used as the school bell. There is one installed next to most of the alarms.

Most of the pull stations are Simplex break-glass 4251-30s. This one has the original glass intact…

But nearly half of the 4251-30s now have replacement glass in them (prior to at least 2009, many of these had NO glass in them.) It reminds me of my 4251-30, which has identical glass in it.

There are three of these alarms in the main gymnasium. The school bells in the gym are 10-inch instead of 6-inch, apparently so they would be louder.

The pulls in the main gym have those Simplex metal wire cages over them to prevent them from being smashed by balls and things like that. Two of them do not have the hammer, and one has the hammer but no glass.

At least three of the 4050-80s have the original lens missing! This one is right outside the media center.

The alarm in the kitchen has obviously seen better days…

Newer-style Edwards/AIP 270-SPO pull station underneath that alarm.

Simplex 4903-9236 horn/strobe located in the boiler room, which was redone around 1998.

There are also two of these Federal Signal pulls in the boiler room. Wonder why they went with these instead of Simplex pulls (as these were installed when the boiler room was redone.)

Simplex 4262-5 ionization smoke detector located in the cafetorium.

Other areas have these Simplex 4255-1 mechanical heat sensors.

These Simplex 2098-9806 test stations go to the duct detectors run off the 4010 panel, and can be found throughout the building.

For some reason this alarm and pull station are surface-mounted, compared to all the other alarms which are directly on the wall. It might have had to do back when the school had a modular building near that exit, or from a panel upgrade or something (there is also conduit going into the bell grille.) It almost looks as if there was originally no alarm there with the way the install job was done (as I have seen install jobs like this in older buildings that had a similar Simplex system installed during an upgrade/renovation in the 1970s.)

As of summer 2011, they installed a Stopper II cover over this 4251-30 pull station that had the break-glass frame removed earlier in the year. This is the only pull in the entire school with a Stopper II cover.

Simplex graphic annunciator in the main lobby. It appears to be a 1980s-style annunciator, which suggests the building may have had a Simplex 2001 system or something tied into the 4208 panel at one point.

The alarm setup at the exit near the speech office. This 4251-30 pull also had the break-glass mechanism removed, but didn’t have a Stopper cover installed over it.

Nice pictures!

What are the codings for each school?

I believe both are on Continuous.
However, the school I went to for kindergarten (identical to the second school I pictured) had the alarms on 20bpm March Time when I was there, but at the time they had either a Simplex 2001 or 4002 panel tied into the old 4208. Now they have a 4005 or another 4010.

Here’s some pictures from a neighboring elementary school, which happens to be the OLDEST elementary school building still in use in Brockton! It was built in 1896(!) and added onto in 1918. It is pretty much your stereotypical “vintage” school building. I obviously don’t know what alarms they had back THEN, but I know their current fire alarm system was installed when the school was upgraded in 1978…

The main fire alarm panel is a Simplex 4207, still in operation! Note how it has the newer “hourglass S” Simplex logo on the cabinet, as this is from 1978 (prior to that, 4207s had that cursive “Simplex FIRE ALARM SYSTEMS” logo on top, like other 42XX systems of the 1970s had.) This is an eight-zone 24-VDC 4207 system, and is located in a copier/xerography room (the reason for such a random location was that in the late 1970s, that room was the assistant principal’s office.)

The system annunciator. I never really saw one that looked like this before. The two red rectangles on top have the zones written on them (you can see them if you look closely, and they aren’t very visible unless one of the indicator lamps is lit), and the slightly darker rectangle underneath the silence/reset switches is a “TROUBLE” indicator lamp. Some early Simplex 2001 systems also used annunciators like this. There was also a more common variation with red trim instead of gray, and the zone/trouble indicator lamps had black-on-white.)

Not surprisingly, the alarms are Simplex 4051 horns on 4050-80 light plates. They look exactly like the one I own. I was told the horns are on Continuous while the lights pulse on and off, like many of these older Simplex systems do (the assistant principal here is a friend of the principal of the middle school next door, whom was one of my former middle school teachers!)

The pull stations are Simplex break-glass 4251-30s. It does look interesting seeing them mounted on those old-looking walls like that (I’m more used to seeing them on brick or cinder blocks or plaster.)

The school doesn’t have any “real” smoke detectors that I know of, but they have these 4255-5 heat sensors in the hallways, classrooms, and just about most of the other rooms (even restrooms!) I also saw a couple System Sensor 5601 heat sensors and at least one newer Chemtronics 601 detector.

Look how high up that 4051+4050-80 is mounted! I wasn’t surprised to see several of them surface-mounted on backboxes like that (many Simplex systems I see that were installed during a 1970s renovation/upgrade have at least one installation like that, but the signal not THAT up high!)

A rather high pull station. Most hallway/stairwell doors like that one are your usual newer fire-resistant doors, but many classrooms, and doors leading to offices and other rooms like the gym, restrooms or cafeteria, are the old-fashioned wooden doors, complete with transoms above them!

Inside the gym (it used to be an auditorium until the 1970s; they still have a stage in it.) They have only two alarms mounted up pretty high (you can see one of them) and two 4251-30 pulls with the red metal-wire covers over them (not pictured.) There’s even a couple of heat sensors in the gym as well!

Generally in the halls, there aren’t so many pull stations, except at doors leading to outside or stairwells. They do have several alarms installed in each hallway, like this (that white square thingy on the ceiling is a Wi-Fi access point; it has nothing to do with the fire alarm.)

Pull station in-between an exit door and an old-style classroom door.