Active Fire Alarm System Upgrades

Berwyn Police Department Renovation

Fire alarm systems are critical to any facility in obtaining occupancy and keeping employees and patrons safe, secure, and connected in the case of an emergency. Which opens the question and challenge, how do we keep fire alarm systems active + connected during construction, renovations, and when the system needs to be replaced?

Low Voltage Solutions, Inc. Fire Alarm Division was tasked with this exact situation when they were contracted by Harbour Contractors in the renovation project at Berwyn Police Department. The facility had plans to undergo construction renovations to expand the facility and replace the active fire alarm system throughout the building. The challenge: Replace the fire alarm system while employees remained working throughout the renovation with minimal downtime. Secondary challenge: The active Fire Alarm Control Panel (FACP) is located within the 911 dispatch center of the facility and it is critical work is not disruptive for the safety of the community.

The LVS team put together an overall Autocall design to replace the current system and an installation plan to minimize disruption and keep the system in tact while they installed new devices and controls.

Prefabrication:

Ahead of going out to site, certified technicians set up and preprogrammed the new Autocall fire alarm control panel (FACP) in the LVS warehouse to make sure everything was set and working as it needed to ahead of installation. This saved labor time on-site and most importantly, eliminated the chance for disruption at the police department

Temporary Installation:

Given that the current, active fire alarm control panel (FACP) was located in the 911 emergency call center, installing the new panel was not an option while the department is fielding calls. LVS decided to temp out the cabling from the current panel to the hallway outside of the call center and temporarily install the new Autocall panel there, in order to get the replacement and new devices active, connected, and tested.

Final Installation:

Once the new 911 emergency dispatch center is completed and the employees are moved into their new space, LVS technicians will be able to remove the old panel and transfer the new panel into its final placement.

New Autocall System Components: