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Campus Life Safety Working Together to Provide Fire Protection B Y LISA KORKLANThe relationship between colleges and universities and their supporting municipal fire departments is a critical point of focus in providing high quality life safety response on campus. The volunteer fire department in the town of Bristol, Rhode Island improved its life safety response to local college, Roger Williams University, by using a unique combination of technology and procedure.The Bristol Volunteer Fire Department performs fire and rescue (EMS) services for the 10 square mile town and campus that serves as home to over 4000 students. Dispatching over three thousand calls per year is no small feat for this tightly knit “family” of firefighters that often includes students from the school. “Most of our calls occur during the opening and closing months of the standard university year,” said Bristol Fire Chief Robert Martin. As with most New England municipalities, the Bristol FD monitors public buildings and protected premises from a centralized dispatch station at the fire department. Until about three years ago, the town’s dispatching system was connected to its subscriber buildings by direct wires. “Town growth created too many wires for the station, and those wires created many false alarms,” said Chief Martin. The transition from direct wire to radios is currently ongoing with a planned total of over 200 subscribers. Concurrently, Roger Williams University directly monitored their fire alarms at an on-campus, centralized dispatch station using expensive and often unreliable telephone lines. Further, the campus buildings contained a mix of different models of FCI and Mircom panels that made it difficult to efficiently monitor them by a single dispatcher. “We wanted a uniform, standardized system for increased accuracy and better reporting,” said Dan Gough, director of Environmental Health and Safety at Roger Williams University. Both the University and the Fire Department were looking for ways to improve the reliability and reduce ongoing expense of their fire alarm monitoring systems. Bristol FD wanted a method of signaling that would eliminate their dependence on inconsistent direct wires, and the university wanted a wireless system that would save expense on new construction projects that are part of the school’s exponential growth. It also needed to monitor residence halls on the south side of campus, separated from the main campus by a bridge. The college required that their system: Receive signals from different models of different brands of fire alarm control panels (FACPs); Provide a high degree of addressable, comprehensive information for fast, accurate dispatch; Send only fire and life safety signals to the Bristol Fire Department; • Save money on monthly telephone expense and on wiring for new construction; • Allow for phased-in transition and enable future expansion. The Bristol FD required that their system: • Enable the town to transition over several years from direct wire to wireless; • Reduce false alarms and vandalism; • Provide addressable information to the department dispatcher; • Require less space than traditional direct wire systems. Both chose Keltron’s active network radio system to wirelessly provide addressable signals to their dispatch stations. The university added the Keltron LS 7000 life safety event management system to provide comprehensive incident information for their dispatchers. Working Together When the university receives an alarm at their dispatch center, the signal is simultaneously sent by the Keltron active network radio system to the Bristol FD to alert them to the problem. That signal to roll the trucks is followed by a call from the university dispatcher with more information on the exact nature of the alarm. This system substantially reduces the amount of time that it takes for the Fire Department to respond to University alarms, and ensures that all the information available is transmitted directly to the responding personnel. In addition to enabling effective cooperation between the university and the fire department, their systems provide a range of benefits to both organizations, such as improved accuracy and reduced expense. Meanwhile, universal compatibility and history reporting provide specific benefits to each organization. The university’s Dept. of Public Safety is responsible for providing security and safety for the entire university community said Gough. “We strive to provide high quality security, safety and crime prevention services that meet the needs and standards of this progressive academic institution.” FSM Lisa Korklan is Director of Marketing at Keltron Corp. Reach her at www.keltroncorp.com.
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