Campus Fires: Prevent to Protect By Michele Herrmann November/December 2009

Printer-Friendly Page Email This Article

“We were probably averaging about 50 fire extinguisher thefts or discharges a year,” says Halligan. The new system continuously monitors each device’s location and checks on pressure status and obstruction to access. Incidents of vandalism have dropped significantly. The system has also cut down on response time and the need to hire extra staff for handling fire extinguisher maintenance, and it provides reassurance for students and families. “That makes people feel a lot more comfortable—knowing the equipment that is supposed to be there for their use is truly there,” he adds.

In 2002, Gettysburg officials handled a similar issue by instituting a barcode system to manage 1,000 fire extinguishers in about 80 residential facilities and academic buildings. Previously, Taylor explains, officials would place tags on the extinguishers and hand sign them—but often an extinguisher “would look like no one inspected it, because the tags were constantly being ripped off.”

For around $2,000, the college purchased a kit from BuildingReports with a palm scanner and software that assigns each extinguisher a bar code. The scanner can be programmed to store the model of the extinguisher and its location, explains Taylor. BuildingReports keeps the information in its databases, which campus leaders can download. “Every time someone wants to see a copy of the records, we can pull them up on the web, print them out, and send via e-mail,” Taylor says. In the case of vandalism, a misplaced extinguisher can be tracked to its original location and a fine administered.

At Loyola University Chicago, RealView's CommandScope Electronic Pre-Plan software helps officials quickly access pertinent information about building floor plans.

Efficiency is another benefit of the system, which replaced a hard-copy procedure of keeping track of dates when extinguishers had to be hydrotested. Now officials can project device retesting needs over time, and the time it takes staff to fully conduct building inspections has been cut by as much as a third.

Having emergency planning in one place is an essential aspect of fire preplanning. Loyola University Chicago turned to software from RealView to help establish a system to digitize pertinent information about floor plans in one location for quick access. Previously, that information was available, but some of it only as hard copy, explains Phil Kosiba, vice president of facilities. A concern was keeping up-to-date on facility changes such as renovations or revisions in floor plans and how that would alter established evacuation plans.

The software provides university personnel, firefighters, and other first responders with immediate access to building layouts and system information. In September, the solution was installed in the Chicago Fire Department’s response vehicles, and it’s used for more than 71 buildings on two of Loyola’s four campuses. Kosiba says officials are looking into installing the software in three buildings at the university’s downtown Chicago campus as well.

Although most of them do not have campus residents, community colleges have to weigh their alarm system needs as well. A year ago, officials at Kansas City Kansas Community College turned to TED Systems to install a campuswide system that, along with handling access control and video surveillance, provides fire detection and emergency notification. Funded by state grant money, the project combined nine separate fire alarm systems into one integrated unit through a controller from Lenel Systems International with the notification system from REACT Systems.

Previously, emergency personnel would know if an alarm had gone off, but they had to check out each location to determine where it occurred and what caused it. For the first time, the institution now has the ability to detect early stages of a fire, says Brian Bode, acting associate provost of finance and institutional services.

Having integrated fire and security systems is beneficial. “A camera can look down a hallway and see if there’s smoke or fire; the two systems enforce each other,” says Bode. “Our ability to protect our students and our staff and faculty is exponentially better.”

The Center for Campus Safety is also helping administrators get a better sense of what issues their peers are facing. Funded by a grant from the Department of Homeland Security, the center has launched Campus Fire Data, an online fire incident reporting system. Through a secure web portal, registered administrators can fill out a report on any necessary response to fires, fire alarm activation, or other action related to an emergency.

“It allows colleges to have a repository for information about their incidents that they can use to see perhaps whether or not the fire alarm in one residence hall is activating more than another one on their campus,” explains Martin. “Then they can decide whether or not they need to do something with their technology.”

Employing a balanced approach of engineering, enforcement, and education initiatives offers a strong offense in fire prevention, suggests Martin. “Everyone must remain vigilant, for fire [can] strike at any time, anywhere, and to anyone.”

   1   2   3