Tenn. District Performs 12-School Fire Safety Upgrade
ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. — To update a patchwork of antiquated fire alarm systems throughout a dozen elementary, middle and high schools, the Cheatham County School District installed Fire-Lite Alarms by Honeywell. The retrofit capabilities allowed the district’s budget to cover a more extensive fire alarm renovation.
The district had reached a point where replacement parts for its assortment of older conventional and addressable fire alarm systems were hard to come by, and servicing was shoddy, at best.
“There was so much frustration,” confirms Joey Dority, maintenance director, Cheatham County Schools. “It was a very bad situation before Fire-Lite came in.”
While searching to replace only its facility’s fire alarm control panels, the district’s biggest priority was finding a non-proprietary system as they had no interest in being tied to one contractor.
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“We wanted something that no matter who, what, when, or where, they could work on the system at the drop of a hat. That was the biggest selling point with the new systems,” relates Dority.
Beyond Fire-Lite’s non-proprietary nature, the district was thrilled to learn the existing wiring could be re-used, making it affordable for Cheatham to fully replace all devices (i.e. smoke detectors, pull stations, horns, strobes, etc.) in each school as well.
“By re-using the wire in all 12 schools, we probably saved between $120,000 and $150,000 dollars,” explains Mike White, account executive for Interactive Systems of Nashville, Tenn., the systems installer.
“In fact,” adds Dority, “the savings we incurred was probably the number one thing that allowed us to do this project as a whole from top to bottom.”
Utilizing a mix of addressable fire alarm control panels from Fire-Lite, Interactive Systems was able to scale the systems to the size and needs of each facility. Altogether, nine MS-9200UDLS, two MS-9600UDLS and one MS-9050UD panels were installed.
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