Life Safety Solutions for the Education Industry

Xtralis can ensure the safety of students, staff and assets at an educational facility by providing the earliest detection of a fire or gas incident possible. Early detection allows optimal time to evaluate the potential fire or gas risk, respond, remediate it and potentially avoid evacuation of students and faculty, facility damage or loss. Furthermore, fire and gas leaks can be catastrophic. VESDA is the only reliable early warning fire detection that gives you the time to find out the problem, assess the situation and plan a course of action.

• Protect educational campuses from fire, gas, smoke and water damage caused by inadequate detection or false alarms
• Provide early warning of potential threats to ensure staff and student safety, operational continuity, and asset protection
• Eliminate threat and cost of nuisance alarms
• Benefit from lower installation and maintenance costs in high ceiling spaces and high security environments, combined with off-site control and remote verification
• Pinpoint the location of an event at the earliest opportunity

The risks of hidden, slow growth and fast growth fires is significant especially to evacuation procedure in colleges and universities due the differing number and characteristics of students, staff availability and support of service areas, each with unique fire hazards. Further is the loss of expensive teaching equipment and facilities. Classroom disruption and downtime causing loss to the students also needs to be taken into consideration.

Consequences of a fire on campus include:

• Panic and personal injury during evacuation
• Loss of life
• Property damage
• Civil lawsuits and loss of reputation
• Reconstruction costs
• Teaching / service disruption

Educational institutions are comprised of a multitude of environments each with distinct physical characteristics presenting unique challenges from a fire and gas detection perspective. Obstructions, air flow, dilution, compartmentalization, tampering, stratification, accessibility and structural influences challenge traditional detection technologies and application techniques.

• Addressable aspirating smoke detection with VESDA-E VEA provides laser-based pinpoint smoke detection to eliminate fire threats early
• VESDA-E VEA also offers easy test and maintenance at a central detector, eliminating the need for intrusions to protected areas like patient rooms or classrooms
• Very early warning detection alerts life safety personnel before an incipient fire becomes a major, devastating blaze
• High sensitivity allows alarm thresholds to be set for the earliest possible warning of a fire even in areas of high airflow, such as ducts or large, open spaces where smoke may be diluted
• Multiple alarms to prompt staff attendance and help prevent unnecessary panic among students, patients and visitors - from very early warning for investigation and security management to subsequent warnings for evacuation and suppression
• Supports integration with mass notification systems
• Wide sensitivity range allows alarm thresholds to be programmed to reduce the cost of nuisance alarms
• Unobtrusive and tamper-proof sampling of the environment for excellent aesthetics
• Flexible positioning of detectors in secure locations that are easily accessible for lowest cost of testing and maintenance
• Advanced detector diagnostics and support for remote monitoring and configuration of life safety systems in unmanned or secured areas
• Unique detection chamber design protects the detector optics from contamination, reducing nuisance alarms and maintaining detector sensitivity for a long operational life