Prisons and detention facilities are a particularly daunting design challenge in terms of smoke and fire control. The requirement to maintain control of residents throughout an incident requires the use of a technology solution that is consistent with evacuation plans and procedures. Smoke curtain technology allows such solutions. Smoke curtains can deploy automatically, triggered by either fire alarm and/or security alarm systems. Just as importantly these systems can be retracted either automatically in a pre-programmed manner to comply with evacuation or security procedures, or manually to allow supervisory personnel to adapt to dynamic circumstances.
Smoke curtains are also well suited to a variety of scenarios found in these facilities. In many instances, barriers comprised of bars or chain-links allow the free passage of smoke and fire. Large open areas can be protected by curtains that deploy from the ceiling, and long spans can also be protected by a single curtain deployment.
Whether a new facility, or the retrofit of an existing facility, smoke curtains provide a capacity to protect residents in-place, when evacuation procedures are conducted, and enable facility supervisory personnel to adapt the protection strategies to a variety of scenarios.
