C A S E S T U DY
Air Force Base Opts for
Combo Fire Alarm/Mass Notification System
Several miles outside of Las Vegas, Nev., Nellis Air Force Base (AFB) serves
as the home and a major training site for two historically significant flying
units: the 64th and 65th Aggressor squadrons (AGRS). During the Cold War,
this group of highly trained pilots flew an assortment of Russian-made MiG
aircraft (sometimes covertly obtained) to decipher the actions of potential
enemies of the United States Air Force.
The rising threat of terrorism targeted toward highly-secure facilities such
as Nellis AFB, has posed a challenge in the way of implementing an effective
mass notification solution. To provide guidelines for the design and installation of mass notification systems (MNS) on its military installations (Air Force,
Army, Marine Corps and Navy facilities), the Department of Defense (DoD)
created Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) document 4-021-01.
A Design Issue
The original project design was for an expansion to the existing 65th AGRS
facility to house the 64th AGRS squadron. However during a site visit, Nellis
AFB Fire Inspectors noticed the common parapet wall having openings not
compliant with International Building Code (IBC) and the DoD’s latest version
of UFC 3-600-01: Fire Protection Engineering for Facilities. The height of the
wall did not extend beyond the roof level and was not adequate to adhere
to the 4-hour separation requirement as stipulated by IBC, Section 705.6.
This created the contiguous space requirement of integrating a fire alarm
and MNS from two separate systems into one. In addition, the project was
greatly complicated by the various security measures both squadrons use
to protect secret information within a number of highly-secure areas that
are physically protected and electronically isolated.
According to Lt. Col. Wilson of the 64th AGRS, the evolution of the squadrons’
facilities from separate structures to one building with a shared common wall
posed a problem for the design of effective systems for fire alarms and mass
notification.
A Combined Solution
The original system for the 65th consisted of separate systems for fire alarm
and mass notification. The setup of the MNS was also found to provide little
day-to-day benefit, since the system was not user-friendly and access was
greatly restricted for emergency use only. After less than a year in service,
the original fire alarm system started degrading.
“The existing system had a
bad history of false alarms,
initiating strobe alarms and
often even interrupting secure
briefings. It also had relatively
limited functionality compared
to more modern systems,”
says Brian Stuart, President of
Aberdeen Technologies, a low
voltage systems integrator
from the Las Vegas Valley.
Preferred QC is a company
that provides quality control
management services to
general contractors working
with the federal government.
Preferred QC’s President,
Michelle Hanks, has worked
with Nellis AFB on various
projects for nearly a decade
and consulted on the 64th
and 65th Squadron’s building
project from start to finish.
“Aberdeen had said they could integrate the whole system as one,” says
Hanks. “That seemed to be the best solution, namely taking out the old
(systems) and putting in something entirely new for both facilities.”
Aberdeen Technologies recommended the old system be replaced with
a Gamewell-FCI E3 Series® combination fire alarm and mass notification
system, servicing both buildings.
Multi-Purpose Communications
As the project advanced, Aberdeen Technologies had to integrate the systems
protecting both squadrons to route emergency messages throughout the
facility, while providing each “side” its own control over routine messages.
“As it is presently configured, an alarm triggered by smoke, for example,
would sound in both squadron areas, but management from moment to
moment is controlled within each squadron,” says Brian Stuart.
(continued on back page)
C A S E S T U DY
Aberdeen’s Field Supervisor, Brendyn Stuart, and his team provided thorough
instruction to squadron personnel on the operation of their new MNS, “I gave
them a key to the system and said this is how you use it, with warnings for
intruders, weather conditions, evacuations, and so on,” says Brendyn Stuart.
When Brendyn Stuart began to explain the operation of the system’s microphone for live paging, a vast change in the squadrons’ attention was noted
as they realized this could serve as a supplemental PA system for internal
communications.
“Before you knew it, they were using it all the time,” says Brendyn Stuart.
According to Brian Stuart, repetitive use of the system can only help in an
emergency situation, “The idea of integrating the MNS into the squadrons’
daily routine will give confidence and ensure the proper use of the system
in a real-world scenario, possibly eliminating or mitigating injuries or loss
of life,” says Brian Stuart.
Monitoring and Networking Ingenuity
Two remote annunciators and six Local Operating Consoles (LOCs) placed
throughout the facility provide occupants and first responders immediate
access to information and control of the entire fire alarm and MNS network.
Designed to meet the strict specifications of the UFC, each LOC from
Gamewell-FCI is comprised of a Network Graphic Annunicator (NGA),
microphone and 16 programmable switches. The NGA allows users to view
real-time system status and event information from the entire network on
a touch-screen, LED display created to mimic the intuitive operation of a
common automatic teller machine (ATM). The microphone facilitates livevoice announcements while the LOC’s 16 switches can be programmed
to either send out specific emergency notifications or to control which
building zones/areas receive notifications.
“The big splash is how it is structured, as a combined fire alarm and mass
notification system. It is networked using fiber interconnects that will penetrate into and out of those SCIF rated areas. In addition to meeting security
requirements, the use of fiber optic cable also makes the system more resistant to catastrophic failure due to lightning strikes,” explains Brian Stuart.
Survivability, one of the UFC document’s essential qualities for a combined
fire alarm/MNS such as this, is a result of the E3 Series’ distributed communications architecture.
“If the fiber was severed in one location, the alarms and messages will still
travel through the network to where they are needed,” says Brian Stuart.
“In fact, the routing of the fiber cable in a class-X, fully redundant fashion
to serve both sides of the building actually provides better survivability,
command and control. This is what true peer-to-peer systems architecture
is all about,” notes Brian Stuart.
“I have never seen a building fire alarm or mass notification system with
such sophistication, where it met our needs as far as the safety aspect, but
also had the ability to let people communicate about other issues,” exclaims
Lt. Col. Wilson. “I definitely think our experience should be shared, especially
in terms of any kind of cross-mission design. We should all learn from this
lesson,” contends Lt. Col. Wilson.
As Brian Stuart discovered, each squadron has a number of Sensitive
Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs) in which classified material
is handled. To ensure electromagnetic isolation, each SCIF could only be
connected to the “outside” world via fiber optic technology. The facility’s
new E3 Series fire alarm and MNS requires only two strands of fiber optic
cable for both alarm signaling and audio, which satisfied the facilities’ security requirements and eliminated the mass of conduit and wire typically used
to support two separate systems.
Part No. 9020-60697 08/11
Gamewell-FCI • 12 Clintonville Road, Northford, CT 06472 • Tel 203-484-7161 Fax 203-484-7118 • www.gamewell-fci.com