Innovation At The Edge
Fire alarm technology protects scientific concerns
- By Howard Diamond, Peter Ebersold
- May 01, 2012
Set on the edge of a ravine, the 540,000-square-foot Ontario Science
Centre is the size of a large airport, with three separate buildings on
different elevations that descend into the valley. Nearly 1.4 million
people visit the center annually to take in exhibits on everything
from the science of electricity and space exploration to how the
body works.
The center’s goal to get its visitors “lost in science,” wandering from building to
building, level to level, is a great premise. However, this “lost” theme can be detrimental
to life safety when a fire alarm is triggered somewhere within the massive complex.
“We needed a system that would be user friendly, making it easier for security
staff to pinpoint where the alarm was—one that would allow us to zone out an area
during private parties,” said John Bradshaw, manager of facility operations and services
at the Ontario Science Centre. “All of that combined, that’s what we wanted.”
To develop a flexible, lifelong solution to replace the center’s aging fire alarm
system, consultants and facility managers came together with the provincial government,
which owns the property, to design a system to meet the center’s myriad
fire protection challenges.
“We knew we needed a new system that would go in the future for a minimum
of 10 years,” Bradshaw said. “And, we needed it to address the needs of the multiple
operations we have here—we have the public coming into the building, we
rent our facilities out in daytime and nighttime and there’s shop people and offices
in the background.”
The group chose an ONYX Series fire alarm and voice evacuation system from
NOTIFIER. Engineering consultant Morrison Hershfield specified a network of
six NFS2-3030 fire alarm control panels. These were placed throughout the three
buildings and networked together with two ONYXWorks graphic workstations,
providing extensive monitoring and control of the entire network.
Master Control with a Bird’s-Eye View
The speed of emergency assessment and response was a critical factor in the system’s
design. The center’s new network of fire alarm control panels, smoke detectors,
sprinkler monitoring points and specialized gas and aspirating detection
devices are tied to the two ONYXWorks workstations. Providing immediate information
on the location, cause and progression of fire alarm events, the workstations’
detailed, graphic layouts of the center and its major fire alarm components
help facility and security officials quickly decide on the appropriate response.
According to Frank Detlor of Robinson Solutions, the company that engineered
and installed the NOTIFIER ONYX Series system, several weeks of work
went into designing the floor-by-floor graphics that would appear in the workstations
to accurately represent the intricate mix of odd-shaped buildings, levels and
sub-basements that make up the Ontario Science Centre.
Designed to have an intuitive interface, ONYXWorks workstations identify
system alerts by magnifying the event location and device(s) in alarm while providing
both a graphical and written description.
“Now with addressability on all inputs, they can hone right in to where the
problem is and deploy their security faster,” Detlor said.
In addition to accurately pinpointing where a problem resides, the new fire
alarm monitoring system provides operators with a whole new level of control
over any part of the network. The flexibility of being able to simply click icons
to temporarily deactivate certain devices will help the center practically eliminate
nuisance alarms.
“That flexibility is necessary because the museum takes in a lot of temporary
exhibits each year, and bringing them in and setting them up would often lead to
false alarms of one sort or another,” Detlor said.
Private events held in different areas of the center have historically led to increased
false alarm incidents—a dilemma Bradshaw believes the new monitoring
workstations can cure.
“The new system allows security operators to turn off sound alarms in specific
areas of certain buildings if, for example, they are being rented out for a private
party or a corporate function,” Bradshaw said. “The strobes still flash, but the event
isn’t disturbed by what’s likely a non-emergency in another part of the building. If
there is a problem, security staff can easily sound alarms in the rented sections.”
In a building containing its own shops for paint, carpentry and other trades, aspiration
detection systems play a significant role in quickly and unequivocally verifying
true smoke emergencies. Although not required by code, these air-sampling
systems provide very early warning smoke detection—a necessity for high-value
and critical facilities such as museums, hospitals and data centers.
Saving Life, Property and Investment
The option of using third-party contractors to perform service and maintenance with parts available through a handful of
authorized distributors in the region was
a big benefit of using this line of technology,
according to the property’s management
team. NOTIFIER Engineered
Systems Distributors, such as Robinson
Solutions, have factory-trained staff
who are well-versed on the proprietary
equipment and who can handle higherlevel
programming or additions.
The center’s failing public address
system was also in need of help, but
its replacement was estimated to cost
more than $100,000. Following a few
software and programming enhancements
made by Robinson Solutions,
center staffmembers were able to use
the fire alarm system to broadcast routine
messages in English and French
through its 1,124 speakers dispersed
throughout the facility. Robinson Solutions’
repurposing of the NOTIFIER
system’s intelligible audio capabilities
in this way saved the center close to
$90,000, according to Rowe.
To protect its life safety investment,
the center made sure its new system
had both the capacity and capability to
easily expand to accommodate future
facility growth. Additional nodes and
devices can be added if needed, though
the center claims to have no plans to do
so at this point.
Modern Fire Response Technology
The consultants who wrote the project’s
specs were big proponents of including
a unique emergency scene assessment
tool made for and designed
by firefighters. The FirstVision tool
from NOTIFIER is a touchscreen display
prominently located at the main
doors for easy access. The unit helps
first responders determine the origin
and migration of a fire and locations
of emergency alerts, potential hazards
or areas of refuge within the affected
areas. Interactive floor-by-floor layouts
of the center depicting activated fire
alarm components, water supplies, fire
barriers, emergency shut-off valves and
other site-specific details enable emergency
officials to make fast, effective
response plans.
“They wanted FirstVision because
of its cutting-edge technology, appropriate
for use at a center that’s all about
the state-of-the-art and exploration,”
Detlor said.
The facility employed a single, integrated
fire alarm solution to improve
the speed of its emergency response
and reduce false alarms, and to benefit
from some cost-saving features.
Ultimately, the technology chosen to
protect its visitors and properties exemplifies
many of the same cutting-edge
attributes demonstrated in the center’s
own scientific exhibitions.
This article originally appeared in the May 2012 issue of Security Today.