Automatic pull station protector and method

A control module configured for communication with a wander management system and a fire alarm control panel, the control module for preventing patients from activating one or more manual fire alarm pull stations, and in so doing circumventing locks intended to secure said patients by activating one or more aspects of the fire control system that, in turn, are designed to otherwise facilitate egress from a facility housing said patients, the control module comprising:

• an interface casing;
• and
• a plurality of zone terminals, at least one of the plurality of zone terminals configured for communication with one or more fire alarm pull stations;
• and
• wherein the control module, upon detecting a signal emitted from a proximity detection device, deactivates the one or more fire alarm pull stations to prevent patients from activating one or more of the one or more fire alarm pull stations, and in so doing circumventing locks intended to secure said patients by electronically maintaining at least one leg of a normally open circuit(s) or a signaling line circuit(s) in an open circuit position, the proximity detection device defined as an electronic device configured to be worn on a patient so as to communicate a position of said patient relative to at least one of the one or more fire alarm pull stations to the control module, and wherein the proximity detection device communicates to the control module at a time when it approaches at least one of the one or more fire alarm pull stations at a predetermined distance, facilitating an electronic maintaining of at least one leg of the normally open circuit(s) or the signaling line circuit(s) in the open circuit position to prevent the patient from activating the one or more fire alarm pull stations, and in so doing circumventing locks intended to secure said patients, maintaining all external egress doors in a locked configuration and preventing an unnecessary alert signal being passed to a central station that would otherwise dispatch first responder personnel to the facility.