At a newly refurbished care home, Kingfisher House in North Shields, the fire safety and security installer KJ Fire Safety has upgraded the fire detection systems. Kingfisher Care Home, part of Amicura Limited, is a new dementia specialist care home.
As part of the refurbishment, and to meet the latest fire regulations, KJ installed Comelit’s addressable Atena touch screen control panel on a four-loop solution to control fire detection systems across the site.
Ruth Field, Estates Director of Minster Care Group, says: “Having an effective fire alarm system is absolutely vital at a residential home, and dementia care specialist home, where evacuation can be extremely complex and literally every second matters. As the responsible agent, we had to ensure we worked with the right partner to ensure all aspects of fire safety was accommodated. The recommendation from KJ Fire Safety of Comelit’s new Atena control panel was its user-friendly capability and touch screen panel. In training, staff have commented on its ease of use, providing peace of mind that we can act fast in an emergency situation.”
Comelit says that its Atena is an addressable fire alarm panel with one to four loops and maximum coverage of 96 zones. Up to 250 devices can be connected to every loop. The information for the system status is visualised on a touch sensitive graphic display and LED indication for zones and troubles.
By using a two-staged alarm procedure for evacuation and a day-night mode function, the addressable panel is able to manage potential nuisance alarms, while alerting residents and staff for evacuation in the event of a genuine fire.
Nigel Thomas, Managing Director at Wigan-based KJ added: “Care homes have some pretty unique requirements when it comes to fire safety. By their very nature they’re places where dependent and often very frail individuals live and keeping them safe and secure is paramount. As we demonstrated at Kingfisher Care Home, the starting point for keeping new residents safety was to carry out a fire risk assessment, in line with latest legislation, checking all aspects of fire safety were fit for purpose. We made recommendations on a new fire system, choosing to install Comelit as a user-friendly system that has excellent training and support capability.”
Mandy Bowden, Comelit Fire BDM added: “Kingfisher Care Home is a showcase residential centre where fire and security arrangements must be balanced with the need to create a welcoming and caring environment. Comelit’s fire panel range is an innovative, stylish example of solutions available that are simple to install, cost effective and enhance fire safety on site, without imposing on the care home facilities.”
Visit www.comelitgroup.com.
