Chances are, your staff members groan when they learn it’s “fire drill” day. The unwelcome interruption is bad enough, but sometimes the kids get overexcited by the break from routine.
Still, we all know that testing school fire safety systems saves lives and protects your school district from unnecessary risk and liability.
Local fire departments responded to around 3,230 fires in K-12 schools between 2014 and 2018, per the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Each one of these fires puts people and property at risk. Well-functioning school fire safety systems lead to prompt evacuations and help firefighters contain the fire quickly. Let’s take a look at some of the ways fire alarm inspections save lives and property.
Ensuring Compliance with The National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code
The National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code provides standards for how school fire alarm systems are designed, installed, tested, and maintained. It’s not enough to simply have well-designed school fire safety systems; you need to test them and document this testing to stay in compliance.
Keeping up on the latest code and best practices is daunting when you have a school to run. One option is to use a fire alarm system supported by security professionals, such as 2 Krew Security and Surveillance in the Pittsburgh and Tri-State area. The team is well-versed in all aspects of National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code compliance for schools.
You and the NFPA share a few key goals, mainly ensuring the safety of your students, staff, and your school’s property and resources. This leads us to consider other benefits of testing beyond code compliance.
Check to See Everything Integrates Well
With modern technology and hardware, a well-designed School fire safety system may contain many “moving parts” including:
- Sensors that detect smoke, heat, or flames while the fire is small and before it has a chance to spread
- Automatic sprinklers in strategic places to put out some fires as soon as they start
- Alarm systems that notify key staff and the fire department
- Air quality monitoring to ensure smoke and CO2 levels aren’t dangerously high
All of that saves lives and enables your team to prevent fires and extinguish them early. That is, it works when all the pieces of your system work together.
A planned testing and inspection schedule ensures your system is there for you when and if you need it. Imagine being confident that if an electrical malfunction causes a fire your heat-sensing alarm will detect it before it spreads. This activates sprinklers that put the small fire out and also notifies the principal, school security staff, and local fire department. A team member is able to inspect the site of the fire to confirm it is completely extinguished. This is the peace of mind your fire alarm testing protocol can make a reality.
How Fire Alarm Testing Saves Lives
It’s easy to see “fire drills” as an annoying nuisance until you remember why we do them. FEMA credits school fire drills with preventing fire‑related injuries and deaths in school buildings. When you compare recent data with the 1800s and early 1900s, deaths from school fires are much less common.
A 1958 school fire at Our Lady of Angels resulted in the deaths of 92 students and 3 staff who were trapped or didn’t know how to get out of the building. Events like this are much less common thanks to school sprinkler systems, alarms, fire exits, and improved fire safety awareness.
Still, schools face fires from heating system failures, cooking accidents, or even malicious arson. In an act of mischief, or a student may set fire to a trash can. In a large building or campus with so many people, a fire can start anywhere.
When everyone knows what to do and where to go, tragedies are much less likely. As an educator, you understand the importance of practice. Imagine your fire alarm goes off, maybe because someone set fire to a trash can, or maybe someone just pulled the alarm as a prank.
Your students and staff evacuate in a calm and organized way. Everyone gets out and is accounted for. Your alarm system indicates the location of the event, sprinklers come on if the sensors indicate the need, the fire department arrives and ensures the fire is extinguished or confirms if it was a “false” alarm. Once the school is secure, everyone moves on with their day, no one is hurt, and the school property is safe.
Why Partner with 2 Krew for School Fire Alarms and Systems
A FEMA report noted that schools face a challenging balance when it comes to managing overall security with fire safety. For example, best practices to provide the security needed to better control incidents like active shooter events, like what happened in Columbine, are sometimes in conflict with best practices for school fire evacuation.
FEMA and other emergency professionals encourage school districts to work with security professionals to install systems and practices for overall safety and security. If that seems overwhelming, consider contracting with a company that provides both security and fire safety systems.
Working with 2 Krew Security and Surveillance takes the frustration out of choosing, installing, maintaining, and monitoring fire alarm systems. We handle permitting, engineering, and implementation so you can focus on your job managing the school.
If your Pittsburgh and Tri-State area school district wants to ensure your students’ and staff’s safety, contact us at 2 Krew to learn more about what a robust school fire alarm system can do for you.
