Situated on a huge remote site in the West of England, this front line operational military base required a new fire alarm system to provide total protection for a number of buildings spread over the site. Buildings included hangars, dormitory blocks, administration offices, arm stores and canteens.

Problems

• Requirement to monitor entire site from a central location.
• Hundreds of devices would be required to provide comprehensive protection of all the buildings.
• Normal operation of the base could not to be disrupted.
• Equipment had to operate in areas with high levels of interference from radio communication systems, radar and aircraft.

Solution

Clearly a traditional wired fire alarm system would have been unacceptable on the basis of both disruption and cost. The end user thought that the project was not possible with current technology until EMS put forward their solution.

A 5000 FirePoint Radio Analogue Addressable Fire System was installed consisting of 11 controllers networked with one master controller. Over 700 devices were used including smoke and heat detectors, combined sounder/detectors, callpoints, sounders and interface modules for remote plant monitoring and operation.

All of this equipment was installed without disruption to the operation of the base and in a fraction of the time that would have been required for a wired system. The installation followed an extensive testing procedure to ensure that EMS’s radio equipment could operate reliably and safely in what is a very demanding environment. To date the system has operated faultlessly without interference with the electronic radio systems on the base.

Due to the success of the 5000 FirePoint wireless solution, EMS have been specified for similar military projects.

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