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FSE profiles a radio based fire detection and alarm system which has been set up to protect the inhabitants of the remote Scottish island of Rum.
The small isles – rum, eigg, muck and Canna – are part of the Inner Hebrides located off the west coast of Scotland. The beautiful, diamond-shaped Isle of Rum is the largest of these, measuring approximately 13 kilometres at its widest point. A ferry links the island with the mainland port of Mallaig. The 21⁄2 hour crossing is scheduled up to four times a week but is often cancelled due to poor weather.
The island’s approximately 30 inhabitants are comprised mainly of employees of Scottish National Heritage and their families, and researchers. All live in the village of Kinloch which contains a village hall, primary school, shop, post office and the most striking edifice on Rum – Kinloch Castle.
The brief was to provide fire protection for all buildings in the village across an area of approximately 3⁄4 mile – without disrupting the environment, community or heritage.
With no fire brigade on the island, the inhabitants need early warning of any developing fire. Initial Fire and Security specified an EMS radio wire-free fire detection and alarm system network, to provide coverage across the village of Kinloch. Over 300 wire-free radio devices, which have been installed in buildings throughout the bay, communicate specific fire and fault address signals via Radio LAN module communications. The signals are sent to a 96-zone master control panel in the castle office, while a second mimic control panel of the same specification is located in the estate office.
On activation, an alarm signal is highlighted with a description of the device and zonal location displayed on the panels. EMS System 5000 portable pagers are also used to provide a rapid response to an emergency, and a message is ‘paged’ to relevant staff to indicate an alarm/fault.
With each control panel having a 252 radio device capability, there is the potential of housing some 1512 devices across the site.
Challenges
Providing comprehensive fire protection to the whole community on the Isle of Rum presented a number of challenges. Given the location of the site and its remoteness to the Scottish mainland, it was crucial to ensure that the right equipment was available at the right time. The last thing anyone wanted was to arrive on the island after a 5 hour drive from Initial’s Edinburgh branch and 21⁄2 hour ferry crossing only to find some of the kit was missing or faulty!
Alan Baird of Initial Fire and Security and Mark Todd of EMS, conducted a thorough survey of Kinloch to enable them to design the system. Prior to leaving for the island, all the equipment was systematically checked and tested. The kit was even packed in colour-coded boxes with each colour representing a different building or area in the bay. The equipment needed to be relatively light and compact, due to the limited capacity of the ferry and minimal storage on the island, so the lack of cable helped in that respect. Engineers were on the island for just one working week during which the system was fully installed and operational.
Since the Isle of Rum is a National Nature Reserve, preservation of the natural environment was a top priority. Scottish National Heritage required a high-tech solution that could be installed quickly and with minimal disruption. A radio wire-free fire detection system fitted the bill, as a cabled system of similar scope would have required roads and pathways to be dug up, risking damage to the island’s environmental and heritage features and costing twice as much.
An alarm was discretely installed in each property using only two screws. With no need for cabling, the system also has no detrimental impact on people’s homes. And as part of Kinloch Castle is a listed building, using a wireless system avoided the need for obtrusive wiring and casing, as well as damage or alteration to the fabric of the building.
Maintenance and monitoring
Given the remoteness of the island, onsite staff were given a higher level of training than usual, enabling them to conduct basic engineering functions on the system. The installation of an EMS modem allows remote access to the site from the mainland for enhanced engineering services. Initial Fire and Security also provides remote monitoring from its Alarm Receiving Centre.
The inhabitants of the Isle of Rum have gone from having rudimentary fire protection to a high-tech, fully operational system, with no disruption caused to either the natural environment or heritage of the island. Protecting an entire community presented many challenges for both Initial Fire and Security and EMS, but as they now are likely to quip: “If you can do it on the Isle of Rum, you can do it anywhere!”