Wireless Heat Detection Takes Center Stage
An installing security contractor advises Sony Pictures Studios to implement a wireless solution to replace the hugely inefficient hardwired heat detection in its famed sound stages. Success and first-class customer service fosters a lasting relationship.
Scot Falkenstien (left), director of fire prevention and life safety for Sony Pictures Studios, and Korry Cannon, president, K&S Access Systems, have forged a strong partnership in protecting the famed studio lot, located in Culver City, Calif.
[IMAGE]12106[/IMAGE]Hassle-Free Installation, Protection
The sound stages had previously been outfitted with the Silent Knight 5207 conventional fire alarm control panel (FACP). In some instances, a single panel had been used for up to four sound stages.
For the renovation project, Cannon, president of Stevenson Ranch, Calif.-based K&S Access Systems, provided the updated Silent Knight 5208 FACP, plus the Honeywell/Ademco Vista 128FBP-9 FACP to handle the wireless functionality. The Vista panel supports up to eight partitions and as many as 128 zones/points using hardwired, wireless and V-Plex addressable technologies.
Each of the systems Cannon devised essentially comprise the same components, including a keypad, pull stations, horn/strobes, wireless receiver, wireless repeater (necessary only for the largest set designs) and a custom-made bypass key switch.
“Everything is powered from the Vista 128, so there is no need for any additional power supplies,” Cannon says.
The beauty of the solution lies in the convenience to easily deploy heat detection discreetly in a given set design. The conventional method meant workers had to laboriously run wire for each detector from the panel up the wall into the perms or catwalks and down into a set.
“Sometimes the wire would run across the floor to a detector. There were tripping hazards all of the time, the wires would get kicked out of the detectors,” says Polo Ornelas, a studio stage manager. “Or the wires would get into the camera shot and drive the directors and everybody involved completely crazy. It was a nightmare.”
[IMAGE]12107[/IMAGE]Wireless detectors can be attached to portable, adjustable wooden stands, which can then be moved into position as needed. The devices can also be suspended from ceilings and positioned just outside the camera’s view.
Each sound stage is stocked with wireless detectors that are programmed for that particular panel. With each new set design, a floor plan is drafted to indicate where each detector is placed in the separate zones.
So, for example, if a detector installed in a sub-floor is triggered, a signal is sent to Sony Pictures Studios’ onsite UL-Listed monitoring center. A fire marshal can then go to the panel and see the alarm event is in, say, “zone 18.” Instead of a time-consuming search for the triggered detector, the fire marshal can instead reference the floor plan to quickly locate the device.
Rampant trouble signals and false alarms were an all-too-common occurrence when hardwired detection was in place, says Joel Fuentes, manager, technical solutions, for Sony Pictures Studios’ security operations. With no exposed wires to trip on or otherwise become entangled in the hustle and bustle of a film shoot, alarm events have been drastically reduced.
“We would be inundated with trouble signals all day and night,” he says. “Now our dispatchers aren’t distracted with the problems with wired heat detectors and can concentrate on real alarms.”
Also an essential component to the system is the bypass switch, which is used to quickly silence a beeping keypad — a circumstance that could potentially ruin a film scene or cause expensive production delays.
“Any delay in filming can cost thousands of dollars per minute, depending on the production,” Cannon says.
In the event a wireless detector is triggered and reports to the monitoring center, a fire marshal can quickly use the bypass switch key to disable the Vista panel and silence the key
pad. The Silent Knight 5208 would continue to monitor all other fire/life-safety components in the sound stage.
Falkenstien says there is not a concern in disabling the wireless heat detection during filming since staffers are present and watching the set.
“If a fire does occur, it will be quickly detected by humans. The main reason for the heat detection is when nobody is on the stage and during off-hours,” he says. “You can only disable the wireless detectors. The wireless is an add-on to the panel that monitors the water flows, the pull stations and everything else for the sound stage.”
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About the Author
Rodney Bosch, Senior Editor
Although Bosch’s name is quite familiar to those in the security industry, his previous experience has been in daily newspaper journalism. Prior to joining SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION in 2006, he spent 15 years with the Los Angeles Times, where he performed a wide assortment of editorial responsibilities, including feature and metro department assignments as well as content producing for latimes.com. Bosch is a graduate of California State University, Fresno with a degree in Mass Communication & Journalism. In 2007, he successfully completed the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association’s National Training School coursework to become a Certified Level I Alarm Technician.
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