Security Sales & Integration September 2022 - 28

SMARTS & PARTS
Fire Side Chat by Shane Clary
smclary@bayalarm.com
Decoding Emergency
Communications Standards
▶ THIS MONTH'S COLUMN is being written
in New Orleans, where I am attending the
annual meeting of the National Association of
State Fire Marshals. One of the topics that is to
be covered is Emergency Responder Communication
Enhancement Systems, or ERCES. Th ese
systems are also referred to as bi-directional amplifi
er systems, or BDAs, and work with public
safety radio systems.
Originally, they may have only been found
Over time,
there should
be a migration
in which a fi re
alarm system
contractor
would be the
primary source
for these
systems.
within high-rise structures, but with changes to
the model codes, they could be required in a
building that is only 5,000 square feet in size.
Th ese systems were for a brief time found within
NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm and Signaling
Code, mainly within chapters 14 and 24.
Th is did lead to some confusion as to who was
responsible for these systems, and whether or
not they are part of the fi re alarm system. Th is
occurred with the 2013 edition of 72.
Th e requirements were removed from NFPA
Shane Clary, Ph.D., is an
SSI Industry Hall of Famer
and has more than 45
years of security and fi re
alarm industry experience.
He serves on a number of
NFPA technical committees,
and is Vice President of
Codes and Standards
Compliance for Concord,
Calif.-headquartered Bay
Alarm Co.
28
72 and moved to NFPA 1221, Standard for the
Installation, Maintenance, and Use of Emergency
Services Communications Systems. From
this Standard, a new Standard was developed
which has recently been released by the NFPA
Standards Council, NFPA 1225, Standard for
Emergency Services Communications.
Th e purpose of these systems is to enhance
the ability of a handheld radio to receive and
transmit when inside of a building. In the past,
this was through the use of fi refi ghter phones.
While these did work, they did restrict the
movement of the fi refi ghters who were operating
within the fi re ground and required that
the command structure be within the fi re command
room. Th ese phones were also rarely if
at ever used by law enforcement or emergency
medical personnel.
Requirements of these systems can now be
found within the International Fire Code as
promulgated by the International Code Council
(ICC) and NFPA 1, Fire Code. Within the
IFC, the requirements for these systems are located
in Section 510. In NFPA 1, they can be
found in Section 11.
Security Sales & Integration SEPTEMBER 2022
The purpose of BDAs is to enhance the ability of
a handheld radio to receive and transmit when
inside of a building.
At this time, the majority of these system are
not being installed by fi re alarm system contractors.
Over time, there should be a migration in
which a fi re alarm system contractor would be
the primary source for these systems. However,
for this to occur, fi re alarm contracting fi rms
need to become knowledgeable in the design,
installation, acceptance testing and yearly inspection
and testing of these systems.
I cannot cover all of the requirements in this
single column, so I will have at least one more
on a number of specifi c requirements. For the
remainder of this column I will cover some of
the basics. To begin, a site survey is required so
as to verify if a system is even required to be
installed within a particular structure. Th is requires
information as to the frequencies that the
emergency forces within a jurisdiction may be
using. Th is can be VHF (150-174MHz), UHF
(450-512MHz) or 700/800 bands. Depending
on the jurisdiction, the emergency forces may
securitysales.com
KZENON/STOCK.ADOBE.COM
http://www.securitysales.com
Security Sales & Integration September 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Security Sales & Integration September 2022
