The Trinity Episcopal Church in the town of Newport was built in 1726, which means it predates the Declaration of Independence by 50 years.
Some 290 years old the building posed some particular challenges – not least the fact it is made from wood. The church needed to replace its outmoded existing fire protection system to remain in compliance with local fire codes. Church personnel with no specialist technical expertise in fire systems also needed to operate the system themselves to avoid false activations from the smoke from candles used during church services.
State law also required that the fire panel be inoperable to the public.
The installing contractor brought the new fire system plans to technician Charles Niles of Security Supply Inc. Based on the demanding requirements, Niles specified equipment from Advanced.
Controlled by an Advanced Axis AX fire panel Security Supply provided beam and duct detectors, sprinkler monitoring, HVAC shutdown and a radio callbox to protect what is a large open space with very high ceilings. Thanks to the Axis panel church personnel can set timed disablements via a key switch or annunciator during church services, without extensive reprogramming.
“There are a million reasons why we like Advanced for any installation, but in this case, the engineer’s plans called for a level of accessibility and functionality that we knew Advanced equipment could offer,” said Niles.
“Four months after installation the system was still running without a single error. We have plans to update the fire systems in other historic buildings on the church campus, and we’ll definitely be using equipment from Advanced.”
Advanced’s Axis AX fire system ranges from single loop panels to full audio and command centers with dual hot redundancy and a host of features including synchronized audio, smoke control and graphical, touchscreen annunciators.
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