Gamewell IF610 vs. Lightning. Got Surge Protection?

We just pulled out a Gamewell IF610-504 at a military base in California. Now they claim that lightning is the cause of the damage and from the looks of the board I could definitely agree. The fuse located directly to the left of the incoming 24VDC from the transformer was not blown which is a good indication that the surge was extremely powerful and quick. This power surge blew out the main board, the CPU, the display and the 4 SLC loop card even though the only visible damage was on the main board. It appears that the power surge was so powerful that it burned a hole through the Gamewell IF610 board. This is why it is so important to have Transient Surge Protection for your fire alarm systems.

Unfortunately for our customer these boards are not readily available from the Gamewell factory so the down time is about two weeks.Check out these pictures.