Schooled in Art, Design and Fire Safety

Feb 1, 2004 12:00 PM

The Savannah (Ga.) College of Art and Design occupies more than one million square feet, spans nearly 60 buildings, and houses more than 6,000 students and faculty. The college is located in Savannah's historic and Victorian districts and includes several prestigious structures, most of which date back more than 100 years.

Since its inception in 1978, the college has acquired and renovated several local buildings that had been abandoned and were lying vacant and deteriorating. The college, known for the preservation of its architectural attributes, could not, however, stand pat with an outdated fire alarm system.

With the help of installer Global Security Industries, the school selected addressable fire alarm control panels from Fire-Lite Alarms, Northford, Conn., to be installed in nearly all of the 40 buildings on campus. In addition to the MS-9200 panels, Global Security Industries installed addressable smoke detectors in each of the dorm rooms.

The college's buildings were previously equipped with five-zone conventional panels and 110V smoke detectors, which were unable to pinpoint the exact location of a fire. The college also lacked a centralized alarm control center.

To better accommodate handicapped students, monitored smoke detectors and control relays were installed to unlock doors automatically in the event of a fire. Students who were in wheelchairs had mag locks on their doors with remote release buttons carried with them and fixed release buttons in their rooms.

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

This month in Access Control

• Targeting The Customer
• Electronic Pedigrees
• One Hero Among Many
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• More from September's issue