Campus buildings are getting a University-wide fire safety makeover.

New fire alarm systems, complete with strobe lights for the hearing-impaired and the ability to pinpoint exactly where the alarm originated, are being installed in buildings as funding becomes available.

Campus Risk Manager Mark Briggs said the University weighs which maintenance issues are the most crucial to student safety when deciding where funding should go.

“For many years there hasn’t been adequate money to do everything we want,” he said. “Life safety issues, including electrical safety, are at the top of the priority list. As much as we want to, we aren’t always able to replace floor tiles and paint the walls.”

Craig Grant, associate director for Code Compliance and Fire Safety, said the University also completes projects in order of how many hours students spend in the building. Maintenance issues that arise in buildings like the Armory Building, Gregory Hall, and Foellinger Auditorium are addressed quickly because they house many classrooms.

Briggs said funding for these projects comes from many different places, including money from the general operating budget, student fees and the state.

Al Martin , foreman of the University’s Electrical Shop 25, which works on alarms and emergency generators, said the new systems would be installed in every building if funding was available.

“Someday, we hope, when someone has enough money, we’ll do all new systems and the old ones will be gone,” he said. “If we had tons of money, we’d be doing all the buildings right now.”

In older buildings, like the English Building, contractors will be bidding soon to complete projects. The building has sprinklers in some areas, but the work will include upgrading the fire alarm system, enclosing of stair towers, and providing emergency power to help people leave the building safely.

The new fire alarm systems have location addresses that help firefighters know the exact alarm that went off.

“It’ll say ‘smoke detector in room 115,’ they get that message,” Grant said. “Then METCAD (Champaign County’s emergency dispatch center) dispatches the fire department, so when they get to the building, they go to that area. It helps shorten response time. That gets them to the right spot quickly. That’s a big help.”

He said Turner Hall is one of the buildings that have two functioning fire alarm systems – one that was recently installed and one from almost 45 years ago. The newer system was installed as part of an elevator upgrade project that required new fire detection devices in the elevator area. However, the University could not afford to put those detection devices in the entire building. Buildings such as the Psychology Building, the Armory Building and the English Building will have completely new systems.

“What these will do is set us up for the future because the technology has really progressed,” Grant said.

Briggs said Facilities and Services will continually work to keep buildings updated.

“It’s an ongoing thing,” he said. “With the age of our buildings, it always will be. We have old building and others get older. It’s one of those things we have to stay on top of.”