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22 Fire systems instAllAtion www.securitysystemsnews.com AuGust 2013 security systems news FIRE SYSTEMS INSTALLATION Tornadoes teach need for planning By Tess Nacelewicz sarily in the area that's devastated" because OKLAHOMA CITY—When your busi- storms can affect the whole electrical grid. ness is in Tornado Alley, it pays to have Stampsco, founded in 2002 and with a contingency plan, a fre and life safety annual revenues of more than $2 million, company here has concluded after two F5 has been named one of this city's fastesttornadoes roared through the area in May. growing companies. It has 20 employees Rodney Stamps, president and CEO of but services about 1,000 mostly commerStampsco, said that his company didn't take cial customers, so such devastating storms a direct hit from the May 20 tornado can put a lot of demand on staff, that devastated nearby Moore, Okla. Stamps said. or from the May 31 twister in this Oklahoma is a part of the city—which at 2.6 miles wide was swath of the country known the widest tornado ever recorded. as Tornado Alley because such But he said the business was storms are frequent there. And affected indirectly because some this year's tornado season was customers had their buildings one of the worst, Stamps said. destroyed and others lost service "To have two F5s in a matter of because of lightning strikes and Rodney Stamps a couple of weeks, that is almost power outages. Also, Stamps said, some unheard of," he said. Stampsco techs on the road had to shelter What kind of contingency plan will in convenient basements during the May 20 Stampsco put in place for such future emerevent and offce employees headed to the gencies? company's storm shelter during the May 31 "That's a great question, especially if you storm, which led to more than 20 fatalities. have limited resources," Stamps told SSN. Now, Stamps told Security Systems News "That's what we're actually debating right in July: "I can guarantee we're going to have now is what we can do." to have better contingency plans in place for He said initial steps include forming disasters, because when something like that alliances with subcontractors and perhaps happens the service can pile up so fast and keeping more stock so destroyed equipment TORNADO see page 23 everybody needs response. And it's not neces- CO deaths may lead to new law By Tess Nacelewicz ST. CHARLES, Ill.—Recent deaths caused by carbon monoxide poisoning in a North Carolina hotel room may lead to a law in that state requiring CO detectors in lodging places. Currently, 40 states have laws mandating the installation of CO devices, but most of those laws pertain to homes and multi-family residences, said David George, director of marketing communications for System Sensor. Based here, that company makes fre detection and notifcation devices, including CO detectors, and tracks CO legislation in the United States through an interactive map. George said only 19 states require CO detectors for occupancies that include hotels, motels, apartment buildings and dormitories. North Carolina isn't one of those states. Since 2010, the state has required CO detectors in homes and multi-family dwellings, but doesn't mandate them in hotels. However, CO LAW see page 23 New courses AllSafe protects cover CO, MNS historic building By Tess Nacelewicz certificates of completion and NORTHFORD, Conn.—Silent continuing education units from Knight by Honeywell has both new courses. expanded its nationwide series Recent school-shooting tragof fre alarm training courses to edies and other emergencies like cover IntelliKnight's tornadoes are among mass notifcation and the reasons demand for carbon monoxide MNS is up, Burke said. detection capabilities. "I think everyone is just "This is new for us looking for something to and it's very exciting," help out in these situasaid Shawn Burke, tions," he said. training supervisor As for CO detection, for Silent Knight, he said, "we're seeing based here. He said Shawn Burke state after state coming the expanded trainout with the requireing has been added as end users ments and … everyone is asking increasingly demand mass notif- about the new opportunity." cation systems and CO detectors. Classes are typically offered The mass notification train- about fve times a month at variing covers the new IntelliKnight ous locations around the coun5820XL-EVS mass notifcation try. For more information, go to system. Participants can earn www.silentknight.com. SSN By Tess Nacelewicz DALLAS, Ore.—AllSafe Fire & Security, a four-year-old fire company based here, recently completed a job overhauling the fre system of one of the town's oldest buildings: the Polk County Courthouse. "It was a very interesting project," said Michael Beecher, a manager for AllSafe, founded in 2009. The main building of the historic four-story courthouse dates back to 1899 and has an annex added in 1964 and also a jail built in 1999. Beecher said AllSafe won a competitive bid of about $160,000 to install a new fre alarm system in the 69,000-square-foot complex. unique challenges," Beecher said. Not only did the outdated conventional fre alarm system need upgrading but so did the sprinkler system, which was installed by a separate company. But Beecher said the solution AllSafe used—Potter Electric Signal Co.'s P400R analog addressable releasing panel and the company's PSN-1000(E) power expanders—was more than up to the job. "I've been in the industry a little over 25 years … [and] I've seen a lot of different systems and this one here just amazes me," Beecher said. He said it made for "the easiest install" of all his years of experience. SSN BRIEFS Head Cooper leading supplier of MNS hardware LONG BRANCH, N.J.—Cooper Notification, a business unit of power management company Eaton, announced in July that IMS Research, now part of IHS, has recognized Cooper as the leading supplier of mass notification system hardware in North America. The company also is the fastest growing MNS supplier in Europe, according to the 2013 report titled "The North American and European Markets for Mass Notification Systems." "In the MNS hardware space, peripherals are expected to see the fastest growth over the forecast period due to new construction and versatility of notification devices," Justin Siller, manager, Access Control, Fire and Security Research at IHS, said in a statement. "Other notable trends that we saw in this area were record growth in the giant voice market due to high sales in the military, industrial and utilities markets and building codes influencing the voice module market over the coming years. In terms of North American MNS hardware market share, Cooper Notification was ranked as the number one supplier in 2012." Fire sprinklers quell fire at newspaper YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio—An air handling unit caught fire in the newsroom of the Vindicator, a newspaper in Youngstown, Ohio, on June 18, but a sprinkler system quickly contained it, according to an article from the paper itself. Though the Youngstown Fire Department responded within minutes, the majority of the fire had been doused by the building's sprinkler system, the article noted. No one was hurt in the fire, which was contained entirely in a small area of the pressroom. The blaze started as workers were replacing belts on the air handling unit, which produced sparks. Law requires detectors on every floor of home BALTIMORE – A new law requiring a smoke detector on each level of a home is now in effect in Maryland, according to a report from WJZ-TV, CBS Baltimore. The law requires that by Jan. 1, 2018, a minimum of one smoke alarm is installed on every level of a home. Battery operated smoke alarms remain acceptable, but the law requires that the alarms be tamper proof and powered by long-life batteries, and possess hush button features to discourage unsafe removal. Disabled or missing smoke alarm batteries have been discovered at the site of fatal fires across the United States, according to the report.