FireVu integrated VSD Solution… AD Network Video – part of AD Group and sister company of Dedicated Micros– has won the Integrated Security Product of the Year category at the prestigious IFSEC 2012 Security Industry Awards for its FireVu integrated VSD Solution which provides early detection and visual verification of smoke and fire for commercial buildings. “We are extremely pleased the FireVu Solution has received recognition at the IFSEC Awards” said Pauline Norstrom, Group Director and Director of Worldwide Marketing, “Commercial premises need early detection and visual verification to ensure rapid and proportionate response to fire alarms thus ensuring minimum disruption to business continuity and FireVu can provide this.” The Award Judges commented “The judges thought that this refined product had been introduced in a timely manner to address an increasing problem regarding the need to verify the presence of a genuine fire alarm.” To provide some background to the issue for commercial property owners – 95% of fire alarms automatically generated from systems owned by UK businesses, turn out to be false – 337,300 in 2010-11. Commercial premises, at night or weekends, run the risk that their Fire Authority will not respond unless they have confirmed visual verification that there is a fire. This can lead to an increased chance of smoke and fire damage due to the potential delay incurred while someone verifies the alarm and resulting greater interruption to business continuity. It has been reported that 80% of business which suffer a fire never actually recover and fold as a result. Fire Authorities are also threatening fines for repeated false alarms under the new powers they gain through the new Localism Act and as a result of government spending cuts. FireVu Domes solve the problems business owners face and help to save public funds by combining integrated video smoke and flame detection video analytics in a day/night IP camera together with on-board recording. This provides alerts to the presence of smoke and flame anywhere within the field of view. Visual verification of the source of the smoke or flame can therefore be confirmed much earlier than conventional detectors either by the business owner directly, using a hand held device, remote viewer, graphical display annunciator or remotely by a control room operator. This means that a rapid and proportionate response can be actioned for the building/business owner, and the responders enabled to receive enhanced situational awareness of what to expect when they arrive. The FireVu IP Solution is a complete video smoke and flame detection system. It offers distributed management and reporting of up to 240 FireVu Dome detectors each with 7 day recording (32GB uSD) offering a fail-safe distributed storage solution providing review of security incidents and any fire alarms, showing not only the event but what preceded it. The FV1 Annunciator uniquely brings all of this information into one place providing a High Definition display showing the status of each connected FireVu Dome (normal, pre-alarm, Smoke alarm, Flame alarm, Fault), and a site map with camera locations and a list of notifications. Should an alarm occur the camera image is automatically displayed along with indication on the map of the location of the alarm allowing rapid, accurate and proportional response to an emergency. The FireVu Solution can provide even large campus sites with a fully integrated Fire Alarm system reporting back to a Central Station or a Remote Video Response Centre (RVRC). www.ad-networkvideo.com  

Teaser: Essen, Germany Website: http://www.security-essen.de/en/security/index.html

Teaser: Kona, Hawaii Website: http://www.firesprinkler.org/

Teaser: PVA EXPO Prague, Czech Republic Website: http://www.sourcesecurity.com/e/fsdays.cz/home-en.html

Teaser: Colorado Convention Centre, Denver Website: http://www.iafc.org/

BRE Global introduce certification… Fires on or near roofs can threaten an entire home or commercial premises. However, a third-party certificated roofing system can assist in managing this fire risk, says independent third party approvals body BRE Global. The imminent introduction of TS 1187, the European test standard for roof systems, will change the external fire performance classification of roofing systems. While for UK regulatory purposes, the test method will follow the principles of BS 476-3: 2004, it will classify roofing systems and products based on their fire penetration performance only. However, the UK insurance industry has expressed a preference for a classification system that takes account of flame spread as well as fire penetration in order to limit the extent of fire damage. As a result, the LPCB scheme for approval and classification of roofing systems, LPS 1505: Requirements for the LPCB approval and listing of external fire performance for roofing products, will take into account both spread of flame and penetration. “LPS 1505 will continue to provide classifications, based on BS 476-3, which UK insurers and specifiers are familiar with and which meets their property protection requirements,” said LPCB’s Certification Scheme Manager for Passive Fire Protection, Tony Baker. LPS 1505 requires initial type testing and ongoing audit testing of the product supported by factory production control audits to establish consistent quality of production. For further information visit www.breglobal.com  

Vimpex has launched the HotSpotter™… Vimpex, the specialist supplier of PPE, Technical Rescue Products and Telescopic Masts, has launched the HotSpotter™ heat scanning device. The HotSpotter™, developed by Product Innovation Ltd, is a simple hand tool for fire fighters and others involved in fire prevention and post fire investigation. It detects and locates small areas which are hotter than the surroundings – both in a building and outside. It senses the infrared radiation being emitted by a local hotspot. By scanning a wide area it allows the user to quickly detect and locate a region for further investigation. The HotSpotter™ is very robust, waterproof and is easy and intuitive to use. It costs a fraction of the price of a thermal imaging camera. Vimpex has sample units available for trial and would be very happy to visit customers for the purposes of demonstrating the Hotspotter™. The Hotspotter™ is one of several specialist products supplied by Vimpex and designed specifically with the fire and rescue services in mind. Other products include the Ogura range of portable battery-powered rescue tools, the extremely powerful family of Cutters Edge Saws, the revolutionary Canguro Scene Star Scene Lighting System and Endress Generators. For more information visit www.rescue-tools.co.uk  

Odeon cinema in Camden upgrades with Vimpex The ODEON cinema in Camden, London has upgraded to Vimpex’s Fire-Cryer® Plus 7-message voice sounders to ensure fast and safe evacuation of staff and the public in the event of a fire. The combination of the common alarm tone with clear and unambiguous voice messages ensures that there is no confusion when building evacuation is required. The Fire-Cryer® was specified by Peter Ford, ODEON UK’s Risk Management Director, following its use in many other ODEON cinemas across the UK in recent years. The upgrade was designed and installed by Premier Fire Systems Ltd, who has also worked on many of the other ODEON projects. Commenting on the Camden ODEON project, Andy Cowen, Director of Premier Fire Systems Ltd, said: “Fire-Cryer® is a quality product, which allows us to provide our clients with a ‘value engineering’ solution to enable an existing fire alarm system to be easily converted for voice sounder evacuation.” One of the main attractions of the Fire-Cryer® for use in applications such as Cinema refurbishments is the easy upgrade from the original sounder circuits, as often the existing wiring can be re-used. The units can be fully synchronised and have a low current consumption allowing simple replacement of existing sounders and bells. The Fire-Cryer’s® multi-message capability also ensures that system test and all clear messages can be easily transmitted avoiding confusion with the fire/evacuation alarm. Each unit can be programmed with up to 7 messages from a library of thousands, many of which are multi-lingual, ensuring that any site requirement can be fulfilled. A total of 41 Fire-Cryer® Plus voice sounders were used in the upgrade at Camden ODEON, including standard wall-mounted white units and Midi and Maxi high-output variants. The wide product range available within the Fire-Cryer® Plus family is ideally suited to the different environments found in a typical cinema. Maxi Fire-Cryers®, with their high-power 116dBA output, are often positioned behind the screens providing wide coverage for the seating areas. The standard units, available in red and white and with optional strobes, make up the majority of the installations and provide an attractive and unobtrusive voice sounder solution for use in public areas. The combination of 7 messages and a wide-range of compatible voice sounders ensure that the Fire-Cryer® Plus remains the most advanced range of voice sounders currently available and will continue to be the first choice for designers, installers and end-users. For further information visit www.vimpex.co.uk