College Upgrades Fire Alarm System

SAVANNAH, Ga.-The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) occupies more than one million square feet and spans nearly 60 buildings. The college is located in Savannah’s historic and Victorian districts and includes several prestigious structures, many of which date back over 100 years.

The college was equipped with five zone conventional panels and 110V smoke detectors, which were unable to pinpoint the exact location of a fire. The current fire prevention system, according to officials at the school, posed a major threat to the lives of its more than 6,000 students and faculty. The college also lacked a centralized alarm control center, making it difficult for maintenance personnel to detect when an individual alarm went off in a facility. The college’s officials awarded the contract for upgrading the fire detection system to Global Security Industries, a security installation company. After evaluating several fire alarm systems, Global Security Industries settled on Fire-Lite Alarms, part of Honeywell’s Fire Group, to update SCAD’s system.

The day after the system was installed, the fire alarm went off. Because of the new MS-9200 fire alarm system, the building maintenance attendant could pinpoint exactly where the smoke was coming from. As it turned out, a student had just finished cooking bacon and thought she shut off the burner. The point identification of the addressable panel allowed the attendant to get to the room and find the red-hot pan before it ignited.

A spokeswoman for the college said that since the installation of the Fire-Lite MS-9200, Savannah College of Art and Design officials are confident that their students and faculty will be safer.