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Sprinkler systems
are vital
The fire at Eastern
Guilford High
School reminds us how dangerous and destructive
fire can be.
The loss to the county will be in the millions of dollars, but the
loss to the Gibsonville community and students of this school cannot be
measured in dollars and cents. No one died in this fire, so it could have
been worse. I felt a wave of relief while watching the fire on TV when they
announced that everyone had been evacuated safely from the building.
Past history has shown that this is not always the case in buildings
that do not have sprinklers. One example of this was the Our Lady Of The
Angels school fire that occurred in Chicago
on Dec.
1, 1958. Ninety-five people died, including 92 children.
The Station Nightclub fire that occurred in Rhode Island in 2003 is a more recent
example of a large loss of life in a building with no sprinklers. One hundred
people died in this fast moving fire. Computer simulat!
ions conducted after the fire showed that a properly
functioning sprinkler system would have kept the fire in check long enough
for everyone to escape.
I know money is always a consideration when we talk about making the
fire codes more stringent. Still, I think there needs to be a serious
discussion in the Piedmont Triad area about increasing the use of sprinkler
systems in new construction. All high hazard and high occupancy buildings
that do not have sprinklers should be retrofitted with sprinkler systems,
especially our schools. The facts have shown that sprinkler systems save
lives, limit property damage and make a firefighter’s job safer.
Excluding deaths caused by explosion or flash fires, there are no
known occurrences of multiple loss of life in fully sprinklered
buildings.
Sprinkler systems have a long history, with the first system appearing
around 1874. They are designed to hold a fire in check until the fire
department arri! ves to extinguish the fire. In a sprinkler system,
only the heads in t he fire area are activated, which limits water damage to
the rest of the building. Sprinkler systems are the most reliable and
effective fire protection available today.
Over the history of the fire service, improvements in fire safety have
always been driven by tragedy. I am relieved that we avoided that tragedy at Eastern Guilford High School.
Hopefully we can learn from this fire as well as past tragedies and develop
improved sprinkler codes that save lives.
24/7/365: You call; we respond.
KENNETH LEE KNIGHT is a battalion chief in the High Point Fire
Department.
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