Capital Alarm scores with install at stadium

PENACOOK, N.H.—Capital Alarm Systems, a fire and security integrator based here, already had a relationship with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, doing such things as advertising the minor league baseball team on its website in exchange for free tickets it offers to its clients as promotions. But that relationship wasn't the only reason Capital Alarm was called in to replace the damaged fire alarm system at the home stadium of the Toronto Blue Jays' Double-A affiliate.

Capital Alarm is a Fire-Lite Alarms by Honeywell distributor. Management at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, N.H., chose Fire-Lite because they wanted a system they could depend on after the former legacy system was damaged in a power surge during a snowstorm. In an August news release, Northford, Conn.-based Fire-Lite said it recently “redesigned its control panels' major hardware components to offer more robust surge protection.”

Shaun Meredith, stadium director of facilities, stated in the news release: “It's a ballpark; it's a large facility and we needed a dependable system that would allow us to identify and take care of any issues as quickly as possible.”

Roger Laro, VP of operations for Capital Alarm—an 18-employee company in business for more than 30 years that also has two other offices in the state, in Lancaster and Hampton—said his company installed the new system at the stadium this spring before the first game of the season, and said it's been performing well. The heart of the system is a MS-9200UDLS fire alarm control panel.

“We've gone to numerous games and we went to the opening game to help them out if there were any questions, but there were none and it went flawlessly,” Laro told Security Systems News.

He said the new fire system in the stadium, which seats more than 7,000, includes an emergency communication system. During a concert or ballgame at the stadium, the ECS is designed to override music or announcements to let the emergency message be heard.

“That was all connected and tested numerous times to ensure its functionality,” Laro said. “They've got full voice evacuation and 165 speaker strobes.”

The new system also is simple to use and maintain, Fire-Lite says. “For fast diagnostic purposes, new color-coded LED lights were also added, which indicate status of the panel's operations, and when necessary, where service on the system is needed,” the company said. Also, it said, the panel “contains a single circuit board, mounted to its enclosure by a quick-remove chassis—an installer-requested element now part of all Fire-Lite Alarms panels.”

Laro told SSN, “The replacement and the programming is simply the best and the quickest.” He added, jokingly, “Even a caveman could do it.”