Fireray provides wide-area smoke detection with minimal disruption to operations
A busy distribution centre in the Northampton area needed to renew its high-bay smoke detection system without interrupting day-to-day operations. After nuisance alarms and misalignment issues with the existing beam system began to disrupt picking activity, Illumino Ignis recommended Fireray Hub Reflective to reduce false alarms, simplify maintenance and support a faster, more flexible installation.
False alarms in a live distribution environment create more than inconvenience. Evacuations interrupt picking, delay dispatches and require supervisor time to reset alarms and investigate causes. Restarting operations can also bring knock-on effects such as SLA risk, recovery labour, elevated work platform hire and time spent working at height.
Any replacement system needed to maintain beam alignment automatically and distinguish brief obstructions from genuine events, helping the site avoid unnecessary disruption while protecting day-to-day throughput. Before recommending a solution, Illumino Ignis carried out a site review that considered operational requirements, landlord responsibilities and insurer guidance.
Fireray Hub head installed in a distribution centre
The recommended solution was a Fireray Hub Reflective system with 18 controllers and 36 detector heads, fully compliant with BS 5839. Its networked architecture allows multiple beam heads to run from fewer controllers on a single bus cable, reducing cabling and speeding up installation.
With up to three heads per controller, the system reduces the number of devices mounted at height and cuts the time required on elevated platforms. Auto-alignment helps maintain reliable performance despite day-to-day warehouse activity, while configurable delays allow brief aisle blockages to be distinguished from genuine alarm or fault conditions.
Engineer using a Fireray Hub Reflective low-level controller
Brief, clearly communicated aisle closures were scheduled around live operations, and cabling was routed to minimise repeated access at height. Where possible, back-to-back layouts were used so a single access session could deliver coverage in two directions.
Controllers and heads were addressed and labelled to reflect both the warehouse layout and the way the site operates, allowing docks, main runs and returns areas to be identified quickly on the panel. This supports faster fault finding without long walks along aisles to locate a single device. During installation, early indications showed that the Hub’s networking and laser alignment were already helping to reduce installation time.
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Why it worked
Early indications based on beam stability and settings also suggested fewer nuisance alarms and evacuations than the previous system. In turn, this can reduce unnecessary stop-start disruption on the warehouse floor and the operational costs attached to it. The same approach - using networked controllers and detectors, short targeted closures, back-to-back layouts and clear zone mapping - can also be applied across similar high-bay warehouses and distribution centres with minimal adaptation. |
In this example model, a single false alarm could mean a 15-minute evacuation plus a 15-minute restart, equivalent to around half an hour of downtime. Estimated costs included lost labour, lost gross margin, overtime, engineer time, platform hire and potential carrier or SLA penalties - bringing the estimated total cost per incident to around £3,700.
The high-bay areas in this warehouse were originally protected by Fireray 2000 before the estate later moved to an alternative beam product. Returning to a modern Fireray platform provided technology designed for high-throughput distribution centres, helping to simplify infrastructure and reduce life cycle maintenance effort.
Where airflow or obstructions challenge beam detection, such as chillers or mezzanines, pairing optical beams with aspirating smoke detection can support earlier smoke detection. This case study, however, is focused specifically on the Fireray Hub Reflective solution used in the main high-bay spaces.
Illumino Ignis is a specialist fire and life safety systems provider, delivering design, installation and ongoing support for complex sites across the UK.