Over the past two years, we've been steadily updating the fire alarm systems in our buildings and residence halls, replacing aging equipment and connecting the new systems to a central monitoring network.

The latest phase of the project is set to begin just after graduation and completed by the end of next January. Fire alarm systems will be replaced in Eblen Center, Brown Hall, Lewis Hall, the Bryan Fine Arts Building, Henderson Hall, Bartoo Hall, the Health and P.E. Building and the University Services Building. A new system in T.J. Farr will be expanded.

Other related improvements in Eblen Center include replacing the emergency lighting in the concourse. And the fire escape stairs on the west side of Memorial Gym will be replaced by fixed stairs.

The new systems, which are connected by a central network, are monitored by University Police, speeding up the response time of the Cookeville Fire Department.

We'll also see sprinkler systems installed in Jobe/Murphy, Pinkerton/M.S. Cooper and Maddux/McCord this summer, and a new fire alarm system will be installed in Jobe/Murphy. Warf/Ellington, Browning/Evins and Cooper/Dunn are on line for sprinkler system installation and new fire alarm system improvements next summer.

"TBR and UT campus presidents agreed that all residence halls will have sprinkler systems by August 2008," says Jim Cobb, director of Environmental Health and Safety. "Any residence halls that don't have sprinkler systems by then will be closed to residential occupancy."

In design development for Phase III of the fire alarm replacement project are systems for the Old Maintenance Building, Health Services, South Hall, the Jere Whitson Building, Derryberry Hall, the Volpe Library and the Maintenance Complex. The existing system in Kittrell Hall will be expanded.

Buildings already completed are Bruner, Clement, Prescott, Johnson, Foster, Pennebaker, the RUC and Matthews-Daniel.