Norris, Inc. just completed its 2017 Life Safety Conference at the Clarion Hotel in Portland on Wednesday, September 27th. There were 50 plus people in attendance for this all day event. It included architects and engineers, safety conscious owners of large buildings or campuses and several from the fire-fighting community including a large contingent from the State of Maine Office of the Fire Marshall.

The presentations included code updates for fire alarm systems and a review of the new fire codes for buildings under construction or renovation because it is the only area of fire safety that has seen a recent increase of incidences. There were also product demonstrations including the latest advanced smoke, fire, heat, and carbon-monoxide detection including one detector that detected all four, another that was an air sampling system that sucks room air into a “super” smoke detector and new detectors that automatically adjust to the room air conditions. These detectors were all manufactured by Notifier, the world leader in life safety fire alarm systems.

Also featured was a system manufactured by enGenius that detected if a fire extinguisher was in place, if it was fully charged, and that it was not being obstructed. This eliminates the requirement by the National Fire Protection Association to inspect every fire extinguisher every 30 days.

AES was also there showing their new Intellinet UL Listed radio alarm transmitting systems using mesh network technology. Every radio box on the mesh network is connected to local fire alarm control panels inside buildings. It is both a receiver and a transmitter which amplifies the radio signal at every location. If one becomes inoperative it automatically starts sending signals to a different alarm box so the signal is assured of getting through.

norris-space-ageAnother manufacturer Space Age Electronics showed off many of their fire alarm accessories. Their most impressive product shown was their new design to meet the upcoming requirement for construction-site fire safety. It is modular and portable, with a built-in fire extinguisher, AED device, wireless pull station, wireless detectors and wireless horn/strobe alarm signal.

Since Norris, Inc. sells, installs and services as much security and communications systems as they do fire alarm systems, there were displays of S-2 and Kantech integrated access control and surveillance systems with Hikvision cameras and an Exacq Video Management System. There was also a display of Telecor communications systems and Response Care wireless nurse call/emergency call systems. However, the greatest new technology being offered by Norris Inc. is the Vigilance Emergency Alerting systems that can alert via desktops and laptops, smart phones, IP phones, and it is integrated into the building’s other systems to lock down doors, release fire doors and call the police or ambulance, just to name a few things it can be integrated with. The Vigilance system has an unlimited amount of alerts that can be programmed and who each type of alert will go to. It also has the option of adding huge outdoor speaker arrays that can alert an entire community with a pre-recorded message and it will be a different message for each condition.

Norris, Inc. thanks everybody for attending. It shows how fire safety conscious people have become. Thanks also go out to the presenters, the business partners that supported them and to the Norris, Inc. team for a hugely successful event.