Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre and Wolston Correctional Centre, both located at Wacol in Queensland, Australia, have been equipped with a new Apollo-based fire detection system as part of an upgrade to the existing system.

Apollo protects Australian prison

The system was designed and supplied by Ampac, and installed by Dayshelf Fire Systems.

Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre accommodates up to 258 prisoners across its secure and residential cells. It includes a purpose built-area for  women who have been approved to have their children reside with them in custody. Nearby is the Wolston Correctional Centre, which houses 600 male inmates.

“There are a number of particular considerations that have to be made when providing fire detection in such a facility,” a spokesman for Apollo said, “including evacuation procedures. Apollo’s analogue addressable technology will allow an alert to be accurately located and verified, and an evacuation can be avoided if not needed.”

Ampac recommended Apollo’s XP95 system to meet the main fire detection requirements at the site. Dayshelf installed approximately 3,500 devices to meet the fire detection requirements, including more than 1,500 smoke detectors, 1,200 heat detectors and 500 interface units. The system has been based around 46 networked Ampac control panels. It has been integrated into the prison’s building management system using an Ampac controller interface card.

Fire detection devices were changed as each panel was upgraded, which took place one at a time. The entire process took six months to complete.

Adam Lansdown at Dayshelf, said: “A false alarm at this facility could be dangerous, so the end client needed to be confident that the chosen fire detection was reliable and accurate.”