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There is a lot to be aware of to get it right, and experienced fire and life safety providers must be prepared to put in the time and effort to investigate and provide the best protection possible.
A few basic concepts are always true, and then some special conditions may also need to be considered. Some of the most important considerations include:
Is the building sprinklered? Most likely, yes.
- How many risers with Water Flows and Valve Tampers
How many exit doors are there?
- Every exit door should have a manual pull station. Note that there is an exception in IBC 907.2 to eliminate the pull station on upper floors when the building is fully sprinklered and when there is proper notification throughout, per NFPA72.
Proper Notification per NFPA 72:
- Alarm sound levels must exceed 15 dB above ambient
- Living space audibility should measure 75 dB at the pillow
- Sleeping room sound should be a Low-Frequency tone of 520 Hz
- There should be strobes in all public spaces
- In Illinois, strobes in all workplace environments (Not an NFPA requirement other than the statement to comply with other governing bodies)
Common Area supervised smoke detection should be considered for the following areas:
- Elevator Lobbies for Elevator recall services
- Any non-sprinklered spaces, such as electrical closets
- Smoke detection for Atriums, with smoke purge or smoke control functions
- Smoke detection for held-open fire doors
- Smoke detection for any motorized smoke dampers
- All fire alarm control panels require above smoke detection
- Smoke Detection for any air-recirculation system that exceeds 2000CFM
- And Smoke Detection per IBC 907.2, interior corridors serving sleeping or dwelling units.
Dwelling Units:
- Hardwired with battery Smoke Alarms are needed in every bedroom
- Hardwired with battery Combination Smoke / CO detectors within 15 feet of all bedroom doors
- All residential UL 217 alarm devices within the apartment to interconnected
- Every bedroom is to be installed with a system Low-Frequency sounder
- If the apartment is constructed as ADA compliant, handicapped, hearing impaired, or visually impaired, system strobes light must be installed in the living room, all bedrooms, and all bathrooms. These high candela strobe lights should be active from the residential alarm devices or from the base building fire alarm system.
- Will principals of ADA Adaptability be required? Should the head-end fire alarm equipment be ready for ADA strobe light expansions?
Hardware Panel Selection
- Is the Building a High Rise or Low Rise? (non high rise)
- How many Signal Line Circuits? (SLC /Loops)
- Will it be an Audio System or a system that uses standard 24vdc Horns and Strobes?
- How many power supplies are needed to support all of the Notification devices? Will it be centralized or distributed?
- Will there be other occupancy uses of the building, retail, professional, assembly, school, daycare, and or parking?
- The method of off-premise monitoring must be considered
Are there other systems that need to be incorporated into the base building fire alarm system and annunciated onto the command center display?
- High Voltage Automatic Transfer Switches
- Fire Pump Status
- Kitchen Extinguishing Systems
- Carbon Monoxide systems and other gasses
- ADA doorbell units
- Area of Assistance System
- Door Unlocking Systems
- Common Area RTUs
- BDA, Bidirectional Antenna Systems
- Elevator Recall Status
- Elevator Lobby Temperature Status
As you can see, there are many code-bearing factors to consider when designing, bidding, configuring, and constructing a multifamily life safety system.
High Rise Security Systems offers extensive experience in fire and life safety system design, including the proper placement of all necessary detection and notification devices for all types of commercial properties, including multi-family complexes. We provide the best commercial fire alarm equipment on the market and ensure your system is fully code-compliant. Contact us with any questions and to ensure that your property is fully protected with the best commercial fire and life safety system.