Republic Group of Insurance Companies was searching for a solution for the fire alarm system in their headquarters building located in the Turtle Creek area of Dallas, Texas. Their existing fire alarm system was antiquated and was constantly in need of service.

Steve Stevick, manager of building services for Republic, turned to Fire Systems Design Inc. of Hurst, Texas, a Notifier NESCO affiliate distributor, for a new analog addressable fire alarm control solution. Stevick had educated himself on the benefits that an intelligent fire alarm system could provide to his facility. Republic issued a request for proposals to three local Notifier distributors and in the end selected Fire Systems Design to perform the retrofit installation based on their extensive experience and system design proposal.

The building presented unique design challenges due to its construction. The building was originally built as a four-story structure; it was later expanded upward to seven floors and eventually an eight story structure was added onto one side to bring the facility to its present 336,000 sq ft size.

Working with Stevick’s plan for a fire alarm control panel replacement, Fire Systems Design sales and marketing team expanded on that plan to include distributed audio for evacuation signals by utilizing the Notifier XPIQ series of intelligent transponders. The use of the distributed audio amplification allowed the Fire Systems Design installation team to minimize the necessary riser cables to be pulled across the building and up the east and west building cores.

In addition to the low-level audio risers that were installed, Fire Systems Design also pulled in new signaling line circuit risers for connection to the XPIQ transponders as well as for the planned future change out of the existing conventional zoned initiating devices to analog addressable devices.

Fire Systems Design also utilized the Notifier FMM modules for connection of the existing initiating zones into the new Notifier AM-2020 fire alarm control panel. The AM-2020 panel was selected for use on this project due to its programming versatility, ease of installation, and its interface capabilities with the building HVAC building management system.

In addition to connection to the building management system, Fire Systems Design provided relays for elevator recall to multiple elevator banks and interconnection to the building’s security system for stairwell door unlocking to allow free egress in the event of a fire alarm. For convenience in communicating with building occupants in the event of an emergency, Republic also chose to have a remote paging microphone installed in the building facilities office.

An additional benefit that Republic has realized is the ease of use of the new fire alarm system. Paging and control functions are simplified as compared to the old system. The new system also made the fire control room more manageable; the previous system consisted of five large cabinets to contain the system. The new Notifier system is in only one cabinet and that frees up much needed space in an overcrowded room.