Campus Fire Alarm Replacement

Reliable life safety infrastructure is critical to protecting patients, staff, and ongoing healthcare operations within an occupied medical campus. At the Loch Raven VA Medical Center, multiple independent fire alarm systems operating across the campus created monitoring limitations and operational challenges that required modernization.

Above Group served as prime A/E consultant for the campus-wide replacement and integration of the fire alarm infrastructure, designing a unified addressable fire alarm and Emergency Voice Alarm Communication System (EVACS) supporting multiple occupied healthcare buildings.

The project modernized aging life safety infrastructure while improving campus-wide communication, monitoring, and emergency response coordination within the active VA healthcare environment.

Key Engineering Features

• Integrated addressable fire alarm systems
• Emergency Voice Alarm Communication System (EVACS)
• Campus-wide monitoring integration
• Replacement of aging life safety infrastructure
• Non-proprietary fire alarm system design

Project Challenges

• Replacing active fire alarm systems within occupied buildings
• Coordinating phased implementation across multiple facilities
• Integrating systems campus-wide
• Maintaining continuous life safety operations during construction

Results

• Unified campus-wide fire alarm infrastructure
• Improved emergency communication capabilities
• Modernized life safety and monitoring systems
• Reduced long-term maintenance complexity