Protecting Dinosaurs & Space Capsules
From dinosaurs to carousel horses to space ships and more, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is the largest children’s museum in the world. Founded in 1925, the museum houses more than 120,000 artifacts and specimens throughout its 472,900 square-foot facility.
Over 1.2 million kids of all ages walk through the museum’s doors every year where they explore ancient cultures, foreign lands, far off galaxies, and 65-million-year-old dinosaurs. To help protect the visitors, the staff, and all of the priceless artifacts from fire, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis turns to Koorsen Fire & Security.
Servicing the Kitchen Hood Suppressions Systems
Since 1999, Koorsen Fire & Security has been working with The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to protect it from fire. Koorsen started out servicing and inspecting the museum’s Ansul kitchen hood suppression systems. The museum has multiple grills and cooking appliances throughout its cafeteria area that are protected by three hood suppression systems.
The Ansul kitchen hood suppression systems are installed above the cooking surfaces and can quickly suppress or extinguish a cooking fire. Koorsen technicians inspect and service the kitchen hood suppression systems every six months.
Servicing the Fire Alarm System
Since 2012, Koorsen Fire & Security has also been servicing the fire alarm system and all of the fire extinguishers throughout the museum. The fire alarm system is inspected and serviced by Koorsen technicians every three months.
It usually takes a couple days for a team of two technicians to inspect and check the many smoke detectors, pull stations, horns, and strobes of the fire alarm system in this vast museum. While the quarterly inspections are usually done during open hours, the last inspection of the year is always done after hours. This allows the technicians to test the horns and strobes without causing any disruptions or panic among the visitors.
The Children’s Museum does present a unique challenge that Koorsen technicians typically don’t see in most other businesses. That challenge is working around priceless artifacts. While the technicians are always very careful and aware of their surroundings when working in any business environment, there’s a little more pressure when working around irreplaceable objects like Fireworks of Glass, a 43-feet high, 3,200-piece blown glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly.
Servicing the Fire Extinguishers
On an annual basis, the Koorsen technicians inspect and retag the fire extinguishers throughout the museum. There are over 253 ABC fire extinguishers that can be found throughout the museum. You will also find 2 Purple K fire extinguishers in the kitchen areas of the cafeteria and 6 Halotron fire extinguishers which are used around areas with sensitive electronic equipment.
Depending on the extinguisher type, every 5-years or 12-years the fire extinguishers go through a hydrostatic test. The hydrostatic test is where the cylinder of the extinguisher is pressure tested for structural weakness. Through regular inspections, maintenance and testing; Koorsen technicians ensure that all the fire extinguishers are in working order and ready for an emergency.
Proud Sponsor
Over the decades, Koorsen Fire & Security employees and their families have enjoyed visiting The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Many have grown up visiting the museum as kids and are now taking their kids and their grandkids to the museum. As longtime fans and business partners of the museum, in the spring of 2017 Koorsen Fire & Security also became official sponsors of the museum.
Koorsen is excited about this new partnership and looks forward to supporting the museum in many ways moving forward. Recently, Koorsen sponsored the latest exhibit DANCE!, a multigenerational exhibit that lets young and old alike explore dance styles through the ages and around the world. The exhibit will be open through April 2018, so make your way to the DANCE! exhibit before the last dance ends.
The most recent event Koorsen participated in was Fire Prevention Week in October. Koorsen staff was on hand teaching fire safety tips and the Koorsen Kasey Program also visited the museum during this time. The Kasey Program consists of retired firefighter, Jeff Owens, and his two black Labradors. They visit around 400,000 children a year to teach them valuable fire and life safety skills in an entertaining and memorable way.
Protecting, Enjoying and Participating in Everything the Museum Provides
Koorsen Fire & Security has been proud to be a part of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis over the years in its various roles. Koorsen employees have been dedicated to protecting this great museum and its millions of visitors since 1999. The employees and their families have been avid visitors of the museum for even longer.
Finally, Koorsen Fire & Security is delighted to take on another great role this year as official sponsors of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. In this role, the company looks forward to sponsoring and supporting the exhibits and events that have made The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis the best children’s museum in the nation.
If you are looking for something fun to do with the family the next time you’re in Indianapolis, Koorsen Fire & Security can’t recommend enough The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. It’s a great destination for kids of all ages and Koorsen is proud to be an ongoing partner of theirs.
To learn more about how Koorsen Fire & Security fire protection, life safety and security solutions for your business, contact them online or call them at 1.888.456.8038.
