Yakima Valley Justice Center

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                                                                                                                                F a r e n h y t
                                                                                                                                  CASE STUDY



       Yakima Valley
       Justice Center

       NEW FIRE PROTECTION
       SYSTEM ADDS ADDITIONAL
       LAYER OF SECURITY TO
       CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
       At the new Yakima Valley Justice Center in
       Yakima, Washington, security is everywhere
       you look.
       Start with the building itself. An imposing
       mixture of steel, concrete, wire mesh, and
       re-bar, the new Justice Center is virtually
       inescapable. In fact, the 228-bed facility,
       which replaced the previous center in Tacoma,
       is arguably the safest, sturdiest structure the
       Yakima County Department of Corrections has
       ever constructed.
       Although comprised of different materials, the
       security system is no less daunting, as it is one
       of the most advanced systems of its kind in
       the nation. This comprehensive, PLC-based
       security electronics package operates from
       two separate locations in the facility via          Yakima Valley Justice Center protected by IFP-1000 Panel.
       36-inch touch screen panels, allowing correc-
       tional officers to manage the entire building.      After considering a number of bids, the           from Silent Knight, part of Honeywell's (NYSE:
       Further, officers can use handheld wireless         project's electrical contractors brought in       HON) Fire Systems Group and a company that
       devices with Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP)    E3 Solutions, a Yakima-based company that         offers industry-wide compatible fire alarm
       capabilities to control inmate sleeping areas       specializes in low-voltage contracting, to        solutions. Extensive discussions with the local
       as well as lighting, open cells, closed circuit     address the fire protection system.               Silent Knight representative convinced Karel
       television cameras (all 56 of them), and more.      The company, which installs, inspects and         to choose Silent Knight's Farenhyt IFP-
       When it came to selecting a fire protection         services a wide variety of equipment, including   100/1000VIP (Voice Integration Panel) line. E3
       system for the facility, the commitment to          fire and security alarms, played a key role in    worked closely with the electrical contractors
       security was just as strong, for the protection     the decision of which system to employ.           to have the IFP-100/1000 written into the
       of both the inmates and the employees who                                                             system specifications.
                                                           Derek Karel, president of E3 Solutions, states,
       would work there. Originally, the plan was to       "We were required to determine exactly what       The IFP-100/1000 supports 127 addressable
       tear down the existing Tacoma facility, and         management was looking for and how the            devices and can be expanded to support up
       bring as many parts and pieces as possible          system would ultimately interface with the        to 1016 addressable devices that allow the
       for reuse in the new facility, including the fire   facility's various systems, including HVAC,       user to determine precisely which device has
       protection system. However, the cost of             suppressions systems, smoke control, every-       been activated and/or needs attention. It also
       upgrading the existing system would have            thing."                                           uses a distributed amplification scheme to
       been higher than the cost of a brand new                                                              enable power sources to be linked directly to
       system.                                             After reviewing all the requirements, Karel       appropriate areas of evacuation, rather than
                                                           decided that the best fire system would be one    having to institute a complex wiring system.
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       The IFP-100/1000VIP voice evacuation capac-        recommending it for the
       ity is scalable from 50 to 400 watts to meet       Yakima center. "In fact, we
       a variety of application needs, including small-   used just one technician to
       to-mid size universities, office buildings,        install and program the entire
       manufacturing facilities, shopping centers and     system. This was very impres-
       other institutions.                                sive, given how many different
       The integrated voice evacuation feature of         devices and zones we had to
       the IFP-100/1000VIP offers a built-in Digital      link back and forth.
       Message Repeater (DMR) that can play three         The installation of the system,
       separate messages, field programmable voice        including final testing, took
       prompts, a built-in microphone, and ground         only 4 ½ months - a further
       fault detection to simplify troubleshooting of     testimony to the system's ease
       ground faults on the system.                       of programming.
       To complement the IFP-100/1000, E3 chose           E3 interfaced the fire alarm
       SD505-AHS Addressable Heat Detectors and           system, which offers a total of                    department can't simply roll in and start
       SD505-APS Addressable Photoelectric Type           422 sensing points, into the security system       fighting the fire," he explained. "They need
       Smoke Detectors, along with assorted duct          for notification on the security touch screen of   to be led through the gate and escorted in,
       detectors and relays for interfacing with the      any alarms within the facility, as well as inte-   and then they have to fight the fire in a very
       suppression and smoke control systems. The         grating it with the door locking devices and       controlled fashion. Plus, you can't just open
       SD505 heat detector is an absolute tempera-        CCTV. Consequently, in the event of a fire         the doors and evacuate the place like you
       ture device, meaning it responds to an alarm       event, officers controlling the facility have      would in a typical commercial building.
       immediately if the temperature goes above the      additional notification besides the two annun-
       trip point (programmed at the panel).              ciators.                                      "The bottom line was that the facility needed
                                                                                                        a system that would provide accurate informa-
       The SD505-AHS unit is comprised of an Initially, two more buildings were scheduled to tion so that only the inmates affected by a fire
       externally mounted thermistor that reads the tie into the system, which would require the would be moved from one location to another
       temperature from the air, then transmits an installation of two additional IFPs. When con- and the disruption of the center would be kept
       analog signal representing the temper-                                                                  to a minimum. And we also had to
       ature to the fire alarm control panel. "Programming is extremely simple," said Karel, ensure that the equipment was located
       This heat detector is ideal for environ- whose company had begun carrying the Silent in common areas that firefighters could
       ments where smoke detectors cannot Knight line a short time before recommending reach easily. Plus we needed to protect
       be used because of the presence of it for the Yakima center. "In fact, we used just all of the equipment from inmates with
       steam or cooking fumes such as in
                                                   one technician to install and program the entire security covers, anti-tamper screws
       a kitchen.
                                                   system. This was very impressive, given how and other measures."
       The SD505-APS is particularly suited
       to detecting dense smoke typical of
                                                   many different devices and zones we had to link There were quite a few zones involved
                                                                                                               in this process, but using an easily
       fires involving materials such as soft back and forth.                                                  installable and programmable Silent
       furnishings, plastic, foam or other simi-                                                               Knight system, Derek Karel and E3
       lar materials which tend to smolder and struction begins on these buildings, Silent accomplished the task, giving the Yakima
       produce large visible smoke particles. The unit Knight will once again serve as the fire protec- Valley Justice Center a fire protection system
       is made up of an LED light source and a silicon tion system. Currently, E3 monitors the initial that is second to none. And that gives every-
       photo diode receiving element. In a normal system from a remote location. Eventually, one involved with the center a very secure
       standby condition, the receiving element facility personnel will assume monitoring feeling.
       receives no light from the pulsing light source. responsibilities.
       In the event of fire, smoke enters the detector To further ensure that the IFP-100/1000 would
       and light is reflected from the smoke particles interface seamlessly with the center's com-
       to the receiving element. The light received is plex security system, Silent Knight sent a
       converted into an electronic signal, causing panel to the security electronics manufacturer,
       the LED to light continuously.                   located in Alabama. This allowed the manufac-
       Karel pointed to the ease of programming of turer, who had never interfaced with Silent
       the IFP-100/1000 as a significant advantage Knight equipment before, to test and verify the
       over competitive systems.                        connection.

       "Programming is extremely simple," said            A major challenge to the project related to the
       Karel, whose company had begun carrying            nature of the facility itself, said Karel.
       the Silent Knight line a short time before         "If a fire breaks out at the center, the fire

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