A ghost town is an abandoned village, city or town that usually contains substantial visible remains. A town often becomes a ghost town due to a failing economy or natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, droughts, volcanic eruptions, war, pollution or nuclear disasters.
Some ghost towns, particularly those that contain period-specific architecture, have become tourist attractions and receive thousands of visitors a day. Some towns are also on the registry of National Historic Landmarks and contain priceless artefacts.
Some examples of famous ghost town tourist attractions include Bannack, Calico, Centralia Oatman and South Pass City in the US, Craco in Italy and the town of Plymouth on the Caribbean island of Montserrat.
One of the biggest risks that ghost towns face is fire. Fire has the potential to not only damage or destroy these historic buildings but the important artefacts within them and put the lives of visitors at risk. Therefore, it is imperative that steps are taken to mitigate any threats of fire.
What are the Challenges?
The main challenges that are associated with protecting ghost towns from fire include:
Rapid changes in temperature
Rapid changes between day and night time temperatures and harsh seasonal changes can affect the performance of traditional heat detection methods.
Aesthetics
Aesthetics are an important part of any historical or significant building. Therefore, it is important that the aesthetics are preserved as much as possible. Traditional spot detectors may impact the way the building looks.
Integration
As the buildings in ghost towns are often left unoccupied, it’s important that the fire detection system is able to report any fires or faults to a centralised or monitored location.
What is the Solution?
FyreLine Linear Heat Detection can provide the perfect, cost-effective solution for protecting ghost towns from fire. FyreLine’s heat sensing cable can detect changes in temperature at any point along its length and is not affected by rapid temperature changes or seasonal fluctuations.
FyreLine is easy to deploy and can be installed in roof voids or ceilings, along beams and in cable trays to offer discreet and reliable fire detection.
FyreLine Linear Heat Detection can be installed into any conventional or addressable fire alarm control panel making integration to any fire detection system simple. Furthermore, when used in conjunction with Wi-Fyre, a FyreLine linear heat detection system can connect wirelessly to a fire alarm control panel in a centralised location.
Wi-Fyre
Wi-Fyre allows hardwired and wireless detection technology to co-exist seamlessly. A Wi-Fyre wireless transponder, installed into the fire alarms wiring via a compatible interface, can communicate with up to 30 mixed field devices. In the instance that more devices are required, further transponders can be installed. Wireless devices in the Wi-Fyre range include smoke and heat detectors, manual call points, sounders and input/output devices.
Due to the switch-like nature of FyreLine, a Wi-Fyre input/output device can be used to relay the signal from the FyreLine system wirelessly to the main fire alarm control panel.
For more information about the FyreLine Linear Heat Detection system, or to discuss any of the other products that Eurofyre have to offer, please feel free to get in touch either by phone on +44 (0) 1329 835 024, by email to [email protected] or via the online enquiry form situated on our contact page.
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