When building a new commercial building, developers have a ton (many tons?) of things to consider. One thing that cannot be left out is panels and systems. Proper placement of fire alarms and the controlling panels is critical for safety – and for ease of use.
The locations of fire alarms in commercial buildings is important so that anyone needing to immediately report a fire in the building can do so in an easy and timely manner – as soon as possible. The location of fire alarm panels in these same types of buildings is also important so that building maintenance workers and fire department personnel can check the status of each different alarm and find out where any potential fire, problem or other safety concern may be located. These same people need to be able to easily access these panels in case they need to be reset, or have maintenance performed.
In many cities, including Bellevue, there is a commercial building trend toward mixed use buildings. This means that frequently that citizens are living directly next to or close to office and retail space. Often, this can mean the construction of high-rise properties, which can lead to big challenges for fire departments.
Bellevue, for example, does not yet have a fire station downtown, which can lead to a bit of a longer time before fire department personnel can arrive on a scene. Combine this with lack of training and experience with the challenges of servicing highrise complexes and these fire departments and their personnel are put into very difficult circumstances. Great cities like Bellevue do whatever it takes to keep their citizens safe and plan and train for any contingency, so there is not much to worry about there – but they do have a difficult job and we need to make it easy for them whenever possible.
Including proper placement of fire alarm panels.