The Cookeville Fire Department's response time to campus fire emergencies will improve over the next three years as we replace aging fire alarm systems in university buildings and halls.

With a new central monitoring network in place, Phase 1 of the project began this week with the installation of new fire alarm systems in eight buildings: Bruner, Clement, Prescott, Johnson, Foster, Pennebaker, the RUC and Matthews-Daniel.

"The new systems are going to greatly improve early warning and detection," says Jim Cobb, director of Environmental Health and Safety. "Most of the buildings in the first phase of this project have fire alarm systems that are 30 to 40 years old. It's difficult — if not impossible — to get parts for some of them. The new systems also include automatic smoke and heat detection, which will allow for quicker emergency notification."

The new fire alarm systems will be connected to a central network monitored by University Police. When a fire alarm is activated, University Police will be automatically notified, prompting dispatch to call 911.

With the exception of Jobe and Murphy, all our residence halls are already connected to the network, as are T.J. Farr, the Fitness Center and Kittrell.

The second phase of the project, which should start next summer, will include new systems in nine more buildings: Bartoo, Brown, Bryan Fine Arts, Henderson, Lewis, an upgrade on T.J. Farr, Memorial Gym, Eblen Center, and the University Services Building. A generator to provide emergency power and lighting will be installed in the University Services Building, and additional egress lighting will be added to the existing generator in Eblen Center. In addition, the old fire escape stairs at Memorial Gym are scheduled to be replaced with a permanent fire escape staircase.

And if approved in next year's capital maintenance budget, Phase 3 of the project will provide for fire alarm replacements or enhancement in another eight buildings in the summer of 2006: Derryberry, Health Services, Jere Whitson, South, the Volpe Library, the Facilities Services complex, the old maintenance building and Kittrell Hall.

Cost of the project is $874,000.

"The new systems are being installed independent of the old systems," says Cobb, "so the old ones will continue to be fully operational until the new systems are complete."

Contractors began work this week, and Phase 1 is expected to be complete by early November. Cobb says workers will try to keep construction noise and disruption to a minimum.