New High School Implements System Sensor ExitPoint
Hueytown High School is one of the newest schools in Birmingham, Ala., Jefferson County School System. The 280,000 sq. ft., two-story building can accommodate 1,200 students. To help protect these students and staff in the case of an emergency, school officials and the building’s architectural firm, Lathan Associates, required egress pathways to provide both audible and visual signals. As a result, fire system designer, Stewart Engineering, included ExitPoint Directional Sounders in its design to guide occupants to safe exits, even in little-to-no visibility.
Crawford [of Stewart Engineering] designed a fire system with smoke detectors in the main halls, corridors, storage, and mechanical rooms; strobe light horns, as well as ExitPoint in the halls and stairwells; and strobe lights in the restrooms. The design also included voice evacuation in the two gyms, the auditorium, and the cafeteria...The ExitPoint devices are wired on the same system as the fire alarms...
Crawford experienced the benefits of ExitPoint when he was designing Pleasant Grove High School, a similar high school in the Jefferson County School District. "One of the things that made this product so attractive to me was its benefit for such a large school. I didn't go to a very big high school," Crawford says. "I didn’t have to worry too much about how to get out of the building in an emergency. But in these new 300,000-square-foot buildings - especially for the ninth graders who aren't familiar with the building - it can be terrifying, especially in an emergency. ExitPoint will help, because if you are in an emergency situation, you can follow that voice out of the building."