Fire alarm system at Beaver County Courthouse finally fixed

Aug. 20--BEAVER -- Courthouse employees shouldn't have anymore impromptu evacuations.

Beaver County Public Works Director Dan Colville said repairs have been made to a fire-alarm system that caused two unexpected evacuations this month. The problem, Colville said, was a faulty smoke detector on the second floor that was alarming without cause.

"We should be all good now," Colville said Tuesday.

The most recent evacuation came last week, just before a scheduled protest against Shell Chemicals' ethane cracker plant and President Donald Trump's visit to its Potter Township site. Protestors were relocated across the street to Irvine Park, leaving two inflatable caricatures of Trump waving in the wind for about a half hour, while employees and courthouse visitors were evacuated from the building and off site.

Rumors swirled that the incident was caused by someone pulling a fire alarm, but that wasn't true, officials said.

"It was not pulled," Board of Commissioners Chairman Daniel Camp said last week. "A new detector for zone 59 will be installed."

Colville said the faulty detector was covered by the system's warranty with Allegheny County-based Fire Fighter Sales and Service. The county purchased the system about two years ago from the company, he said.

Officials first became aware of the problem on Aug. 1, when visitors and employees were greeted with a blaring siren after a smoke detector on the second floor hallway near the detective's office deployed. In both instances, Beaver firefighters investigated and confirmed there was no fire. Initially, workers thought it was an electrical issue and made repairs.

However, last week's incident caused further investigation and consultation by Fire Fighter Sales and Services, which prompted the replacement.

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