Brand new fire station integrates home automation applications for shorter intervention times, more energy efficiency, and comfort.
When an emergency call comes in at night, lights in the standby rooms turn on instantly, hallway lighting indicates the fastest route to the fire truck, and the gates open automatically. HVAC throughout the building is controlled by Qbus, while the window screens adjust according to sunlight direction and intensity—measured by the rooftop Qbus weather station.
The Asse fire station covers around 4,400 m² and includes 21 gates. It protects a total of 608,000 residents. The building also features classrooms, warehouses, sleeping quarters, sanitary facilities, and training areas.
I wanted to automate as much as possible, because automation results in time and efficiency gains where it matters most.
Lieutenant Michel Carlé was the driving force behind implementing a centralized automation system to control as many building functions as possible.
“I wanted as many tasks as possible to be automated – it leads to time savings and greater efficiency,” he explains. With his technical background, he was well equipped to coordinate the implementation. “In close collaboration with the architects, we searched for a system that could be easily expanded and controlled remotely, over the internet. Just as important was post-installation flexibility. We didn’t want to call the installer or supplier every time a change was needed. We wanted to manage that ourselves.”
Smart control of heating, lighting, doors and solar screens
“In the rooms where radiators are installed, we added a temperature sensor,” says Michel Carlé. “This sensor controls a valve on the manifold to activate supplementary heating when needed. In addition, we use the home automation system to manage all lighting, doors, gates, and solar screens." Light levels are measured to automatically adjust lighting via motion detectors. The screens are managed through the Qbus weather station. “It calculates the exact position of the sun and decides which screens should be lowered. But if a room is being heated, we don’t lower the screens—we use the sun’s warmth to heat the space naturally.”
Our main priority: maximum adaptability under our own control.
Call system triggers home automation
In addition to everything else, Michel Carlé also implemented a direct connection between the central emergency call system and the building’s automation.
“Emergency calls come in via the 100 call centers, each with corresponding codes,” he explains. “We linked those codes to specific scenes programmed into Qbus. For example, if we receive a call about a major fire, a predefined scene is automatically activated: certain doors and gates open, lights turn on... This setup instantly shortens our response time."
