Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Fire safety By ANN WINCHELL News Editor USC has never had a fire fatality, and is more responsible and more tuned to safety during the last few years, but it is not without its Drob lems, said Dave Castine, director of the department of fire safety. Businesses that sell fire alarm systems are connected to a central reporting area that immediately alerts the fire department. However, because of routing problems the commercial systems have, USC developed their own, he said. "All dorm rooms have smoke detectors," said Domenic Pontiere, life safety director. Red pull stations saying "fire alarm" are installed in clearly visiK1 o lA/*ofinnc tKr/MinKrvnt nil nnmmin uiv iv/vauv/110 uiiv/ugiivui cut vainpud buildings. Many of them are connected to central signal mechanisms called "gamewell boxes" that notify the campus police automatically of a fire, Castine said. One problem with this system is that only 13 of the 29 dormitories are connected to the boxes, and no academic buildings are. Most of the unconnected dorms are located on the Horseshoe, he said. Rutledge Building is one of them. An example of what can happen when pull stations are not connected to gamewell boxes was the incident in Rutledge Building in June. An employee, Linda Newman, came to work, heard the fire alarm and called the fire department. In that kind of situation, someone has to become aware of the problem before the police can be notified, Castine said. Luckily, what happened in Rutledge was a false alarm and no damage was done, Castine said. Gene Luna, director of housing and residential services said "We liye wit the number of ,, ,, puii stations on cem all the the campus is pie's Security adequate, and ty yye have his office has . a five-year blllty to plan to spend almost imr $500,000 each ?^TAr ryear to improve ' and response sys- inspectors ac tems. Funds are ( being scheduled as they come Direc available; an(* Resid Preston, McClintock, Wade Hampton, and Sims dormitories have already been approved to be upgraded. One thing making the five-year planning difficult is that building codes are being constantly reviewed and revised, and new technologies keep changing priorities, Luna said. As a result, the housing office is educating dorm staff to help matters. Dorm resident assistants and 24hour desk staff are a regular response team trained to deal with system wor %>iF L 1 J BB!*^^1 * Columbia Fire Department answers fire emergencies, and administrators p in the housing office are trying to ii identify heavy sleepers who might sleep through several alarms going p off. RAs go up and down the hall, ii beating on the doors to wake them, ii Storyboards to illustrate dangers si and safety measures will be displayed in each dorm, Luna said. tt we live with that concern all the tl time, people's security and safety. r< We have the capability to respond s almost immedi- o h that con- i"ely now- * fire marshal d time, peo- inspectors / and Safe- advise US," Luna lc the capa- Nikki Wilson j respond a broadcasting s< nediately senior'said she v i feels safer in the h e marshal fall than in the ir ivise US." summer because ai ?' _ t thino? arp lnncpr A jene Luna :?*? * in the summer, ir tor of Housing Sometimes the ential Services 24-hour desk ai people are not h there in the morning when she goes gi out. But she is aware of where the pi pull stations are. tt School buildings which house ai students with a high school diploma ai are put in the category of business si occupancy. It is expected that occu- m pants will know how to handle fire situations, and look for fire maps and pull stations, said John Turk, gi USC's architect. R USC has to abide by the Standard 01 Building Code and the National Fire ir Prevention Association codes when 1! ks, but has "mmitxswtf Ul | ' a false alarm at Coker Life Scieno lanning new buildings or inspect- s ig existing ones, said Turk. ( "Columbia's fire marshal makes eriodic inspections of all our build- 1 igs, and we are constantly updat- i ig the fire alarm systems," Turk t aid. Most of the older buildings con- < tin offices, and the only problem is lat some of them don't have the r squired exits per square foot of y pace. Turk said some of these s ffices used to have barred win- t ows, but he doesn't believe they f o any more. t "We make regular inspections for >cked exit doors and have had no s omplaints in a long, long time. j hat's the things we catch," Castine iid. The fire department makes regutr inspections for regulation perlits for public assembly and hazrdous material, said Bradley 1 .nderson, Columbia's fire depart- c tent assistant chief. Ralph Foster, an engineer associ- a e in the fire marshal's office, said is department checks fire extin- 11 uishers to make sure they are in r lace and functioning. They check a le licenses of the companies that e contracted to taKe care ot tnem, ^ id the tags on the equipment to be t ire they are being inspected every s lonth. t But one student disagreed. r "I looked at the tag on an extinuisher on the third floor of the L ussell House, and all I saw marked i the tag was one inspection done tJ i February 1993, and three in n )92, in February, May and July," c problems if W?mE ' . ~; llllfilre f| y4JS! 1MB ftB ^V" %iw w i*.-< *~* - : ' Jay King/The Gamecock es Building June 10. .aid Joel Marlowe, an electrical jngineering junior. "The biggest problem that the JSC system has is that most buildngs have no sprinkler system, but I hink they are aware of the need, rhe Carolina Plaza has been fitted," .aid Anderson. Anderson said buildings were not equired to have them in the past. \nd even though Columbia Hall Liirvivpfl a firp in Tannarv hpcancp ... i/vvuuuv >f built-in precautions like heavy "ire doors, it was a large-loss fire. If hey had had a sprinkler system, lamage would have been less and itudents could have moved back in, n a few days. "Sprinkler systems are consid:red proactive because they control tnd can actually extinguish a fire >efore the fire department gets here. A hose is one-directional and >nly works in the area it's pointed it. Sprinklers cover much larger ireas," Foster said. Luna said a sprinkler system is tot included in the housing departtient's five-year plan now, but they re reconsidering giving preference o it. But the fire marshal makes the lecision as to how to comply with he code and whether a sprinkler ystem would be more appropriate han other precautions that are equired. "It's based on funds available," .una said. "But emergency response time to tie university is typically about two linutes because our station is so lose by," Anderson said. a Jack Dunn Editor in Chief C. E. Holman Manaeinp/Viewnnints RHitnr ( Carson Henderson Copy Desk Chief Ann Winchell News Editor Desaree Hollins Carolina! Editor I Andy Borgert Sports Editor Sean McGuinness Graphics Editor Eric Glenn Photo Editor Keith Jones Darkroom Technician Laura Day ^ Production Manager Jim Green Assistant Production Manager Shannon Wadford Production Assistant Renee Gibson Advertising Manager Erik Collins Faculty Advisor The Gamecock is the student newspaper of the University of South Carolina and is published weekly during both summer sessions, with the exception of university holidays and examination periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publica- 4 ? tions and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Student Media Department is the parent organization of The uamecocK. The Gamecock is a registered student organization of the University of South Carolina and is partially funded by student activities fees. The Gamecock P.O.Box 85131 University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 V NEWSROOM 777-7726 ADVERTISING 777-4249