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Tampa Convention Center Fire Alarms Faulted

Tribune file photo (2006)

More than two months after an initial investigation, faulty equipment has not been repaired.

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 5, 2009

TAMPA - Recent inspections of the Tampa Convention Center's new fire alarm system have found a number of deficiencies, including faulty strobe lights and smoke detectors, raising questions about the safety of a city-owned facility that hosts tens of thousands.

In January, a test of the system by Advanced Engineered Systems discovered multiple warning strobe lights not functioning, no emergency phone jacks in elevators and no evacuation speakers in several meeting rooms. One smoke detector was hanging from its wires.

More than two months later, the faulty equipment has not been repaired.

City officials claim there is no safety risk from the faulty equipment and say deficiencies such as those are normal for a fire alarm system serving a 60,000-square foot facility.

Bill Sharpe, the center's chief building engineer, said the city is working with the company that installed the system, Automated Building Control Systems, to fix the problems.

"We're trying to get it resolved," he said. "We've had problems with this from the get-go."

Chris Mosley, a representative for the ABC Systems in Tampa, declined to comment.

Tampa fire marshals inspected the new fire alarm system in November 2007 and found numerous deficiencies, including smoke detectors that weren't installed on the ceilings.

Those problems were resolved before a follow-up fire inspection last September.

Capt. Bill Wade, a fire rescue spokesman, said the fire marshal is planning to conduct a inspection of the facility this week to determine if the deficiencies violate fire codes.

What's more, convention center officials apparently didn't inform the fire marshals office about the problems found during the AES inspection, as required by state law.

"They should have told us about the inspection," he said. If the fire marshal finds the same problems that Advanced Engineered Systems found, the convention center will be asked to fix the problems and will have a follow-up inspection in 30 days.

From the outset, the convention center's alarm system has been plagued by problems.

For one, the work was completed under an emergency affidavit that prevented the city from putting the project out to bid. The first contractor, Airwaves, Inc, went bankrupt halfway through the project after billing the convention center more than $300,000.

Shortly after, ABC Systems was hired to take over the project, which was completed in fall 2007. In the end, the system cost the city to total of about $900,000 to install.

"We needed to get in done quickly and there weren't many companies in the area licensed to do the work," said David Vaughn, the city's contract administrator.

AES was hired to test the new alarm system and perform maintenance. The January inspection was the first annual test to determine if the system is working properly.

Vaughn said faulty equipment will be fixed and downplayed the safety concerns.

"There's no safety issue whatsoever," he said. "The system is functioning properly."

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (813) 259-7679.

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