A large Ministry of Defence base in Southern England is now protecting its US Air Force personnel with Apollo Fire Detection equipment in its onsite military accommodation. 
Global Fire Services (GFS) were commissioned to refit equipment in more than 500 of the base's single room dormitories, replacing a legacy system which gave the base limited insight into any potential fire risks.

Greg Smith, director at GFS explains more about the new system: "The base now has a more 'intelligent' fire detection system, which not only minimises the risks of false alarms, but also provides those monitoring the systems with a clearer idea of any potential issues.

"It consists of three Advanced Mx-5000, networked four loop addressable control panels, to which the Apollo Discovery devices are connected. On activation of any manual call point or smoke sensor in the common areas or any sprinkler throughout the building, the system will activate all the sounders, shut down the cookers and plant, and report to the on-site signalling system. Thanks to the combination of the Mx-5000 networked panels and Apollo devices the level of data this system is able to gather from the alerts is much more advanced than the previous system and is able to give those managing facilities on site a clearer indication of any next steps required.

"In addition, the Advanced Mx-5000’s programming now has comprehensive confirmation filters, an additional step to minimise false alarms in its sleeping quarters. Before the refit, only smoke detectors were present in the dorms – if one was activated the whole building would be alerted and evacuated. With this level of disruption, false alarms were frustrating and costly for the base.

"With Apollo Discovery Multisensors now installed, the fault-tolerant network now has a confirmation setting in place within all of the bedrooms. If any smoke is sensed within the room the local sounder will sound for a five minute interval. During this time period the system will then change the detector to a heat sensor.  If a fire was the cause of the initial alarm heat will also be generated and a full alarm condition will be activated. In addition, any other device activated during this period will also create a full alarm condition. If no other device is activated, or no heat sensed, the local sounder will automatically reset after the five minute timer ends.

“We use Apollo and Advanced’s Mx-5000 analogue panels because they are the highest quality available, easily installed and networked and offer superior performance and cause-and-effect and programming. The Mx-5000 work’s flawlessly with Apollo’s Discovery open protocol. Unusually for a site in the UK, the base required the new fire detection equipment to comply with EN54 part 13. The Apollo Discovery range and Advanced’s Mx-5000 both meet these EN requirements.

“Due to the buildings being fully occupied our engineers had to ensure a fully functional system was in place throughout the project. This was adhered to throughout the installation and the job completed ahead of its tight time schedule.