Vandalism

Virtually every day, stories about vandalism in schools appear in the press, all with one consistent theme.  The vandals and criminals discharge fire extinguishers in the facilities causing substantial damage, evacuations, school closings and costly cleanup charges.  Here are some stories about schools that have been subjected to fire extinguisher vandalism in just the past few weeks.

Fire Extinguisher Vandalism Rates Increase at St. Boneventure University

According to a recent article in the school newspaper, The Bona Venture, Fire Extinguisher vandalism and misuse rates have increased dramatically campus wide in the last several weeks.  Misuse of this vital fire safety equipment has resulted in mass student evacuation from buildings and residence halls and costly cleanup projects. As Ralph Aloia, the deputy director of safety and security for the university points out:

"The cost of a fire extinguisher itself is around $70; however, the cost to the community could be their safety, welfare and health," Aloia said. "When extinguishers are taken from their intended area and discharged, the potential cost of personal-property damage and life safety from fires to others is a huge issue."

"It is only a matter of time when a fire happens again," he said. "The history of the university speaks volumes about fires here. The community needs to come together about disregarding each others' safety. How would one actually feel if they knew their actions led to someone getting severely hurt?"

We couldn't agree with Mr. Aloia more.  Fire extinguishers extinguished approximately 5.32 million fires in the US last year, and ensuring that these vital pieces of life safety equipment are where they are supposed to be, available, accessible and functioning properly is what en-Gauge was founded to accomplish.

Vermont School Vandalized for the Third Time This Year

A tiny Vermont school district has been burglarized and vandalized three times so far this academic year.  As Vermont TV station WPTZ.com reports:

Vermont State Police are investigating a burglary at the Twinfield Union School early this morning, the third break-in in the tiny district this academic year.

Superintendent Nancy Thomas said a damage estimate was not yet available but she said there was broken glass, fire extinguisher residue all over and office equipment was stolen.

The 440-student K through 12 school was closed Monday for cleanup but will reopen on Tuesday.

As a community, when a school is forced to close for a day due to fire extinguisher vandalism, what is the economic impact?  How many parents need to take a day off from work?  How much lost productivity does this result in?  The cost is a lot higher than a custodian's time to thoroughly clean a building.

Vandals Trash Special Needs School, Discharge Extinguishers

In a sad story, vandals in California broke into a special needs school and caused significant damage to the Richard Henry Dana Exceptional Needs Facility and the elementary school next door.  In each instance, there was significant damage to the facility and the locations were coated with residue from discharged extinguishers.  Watch this segment from KABC in Los Angeles to see the damage.

As you can see in the video, the police investigators don't hold out much hope that the criminals will be caught.  Another benefit of electronically monitoring fire extinguishers is that alarms can be triggered when an extinguisher is pulled, resulting in a rapid response to situations like this.

Oklahoma City School Vandalized, Thousands in Damages

According to KFOR, Channel 4 in Oklahoma City:

A metro elementary school was targeted by vandals over the weekend. Officials say the vandals caused thousands of dollars in damage and it's not the first time this school has been hit recently.

Principal Phillip Cunningham said, "Everything was on the floor, fire extinguishers discharged, a lot of equipment broken and damaged."

These types of stories are all too common.  With budgets tight and school boards struggling to stretch every dollar, losing days to cleanup or fire damage is unacceptable.  To learn more about how to ensure your school is protected with electronically monitored fire extinguishers, contact en-Gauge today.

Vandals continue to do thousands of dollars of damage and interrupt business and community activities by carelessly using fire extinguishers in acts of vandalism.  We continue to be amazed a how many articles come across our desk describing the damage and disruption caused by these acts of fire extinguisher vandalism.  Here are just a handful of the examples from the last few weeks.

Michigan Church Close For Over A Week Due to Fire Extinguisher Vandalism

The Eureka Christian Church in Clinton County Michigan was extensively vandalized by intruders that took delight in having a fire extinguisher fight with multiple dry chemical fire extinguishers.  According to WILX.com:

Volunteers showed up at Eureka Christian Church to help clean up, but were shocked to find more damage than they could handle. Some people snuck into the church gym and had a ball blasting three fire extinguishers.

"It's everywhere. It's on the tables, on the chairs, on the lights, and on the floor. It's just filth," said Eureka Christian Church member Karry Shears of the extinguisher residue.

"When I walked in and saw the damage my heart fell to the ground," said 43-year church member Todd Colley.

...Their insurance company estimates the job will take at least two weeks to clean, but has not determined how much the damage will cost.

The residue for the fire extinguishers is still thick in the air 3 days after the incident and has covered nearly every surface.

A long term concern the church may need to address is that the dry chemicals from extinguishers is corrosive to electronics and extremely difficult to remove from the delicate instrumentation.  The best way to discourage fire extinguisher vandalism is to know when it is taking place by using a fire extinguisher monitoring solution like that provided by en-Gauge.

Vandals Coat Spokane, WA School Gyms with Fire Extinguishers

In an all to familiar story, vandals broke into a school overnight and the staff came in to find a huge mess and a major disruption to business as ususal.

This photo from KREM.com gives an indication of just how much area a vandal can impact by discharging just a single fire extinguisher.

Former Hewlett-Packard Building Vandalized with Fire Extinguishers

In Greeley, Colorado police arrested 3 teenaged boys involved in a truly expensive act of vandalism.  According to The Greeley Tribune:

Three 16-year-old boys were arrested by Greeley police after they were found inside the old Hewlett-Packard building in west Greeley, where they were accused of causing up to $100,000 in damage.

Greeley police spokesman Sgt. Joe Tymkowych said police received a call from a watchman at the plant, in the 900 block of 71st Avenue, at about 11 a.m. Thursday. The caller said he saw three boys setting off fire extinguishers inside the building.

Police arrived minutes later and found the three boys hiding on the roof of the building.

Based on the feedback from the community regarding this story on the Tribune website, passions are running high about the amount of damage and the need to make an example of these vandals.

$10,000 of damage to Eureka, MO High School Pool due to Fire Exinguisher Vandalism

Why is it that schools get hit so hard by vandals that think it is funny to discharge these vital life safety devices as a prank.  With the vandals caught in this situation and a $10K price tag plus criminal charges pending, they probably no longer think it was a very clever idea.  According to the Eureka-Wildwood Patch:

Damage to the school's pool was deemed "extensive," and estimated to cost  more than $10,000.

Wiegand said the police report filed by Eureka police and school resource officer Michael Smith indicated the incident was reported by Eureka's athletic director Jason Green.

"(Green's) statements outlined that he found chemicals floating in the pool from fire extinguishers being sprayed there, and on the equipment of the school's aquatic sports department, which rendered the pool and items unoperable," Wiegand said.

....Monday night, Eureka High School physical education teacher and swim coach Sharon Wasson said the pool underwent extensive cleaning, but that the swimmers were happy to have it return to operational. St. Louis-based catastrophe and restoration company CATCO, handled the cleaning project.  She said they did a phenomenal job with the situation.

 

Don't be taken by surprise by vandals.  Start monitoring your fire extinguisher 24/7/365 with the en-Gauge electronic fire extinguisher monitoring system and be sure that your first line of defense against fires is where is needs to be, accessible and ready for proper use. 

After a "suspicious" passenger left the lavatory of the plane, an alert flight attendant noticed a fire extinguisher was out of place and notified the pilots. The plane was diverted as a safety measure.

Fire extinguishers have been used as improvised explosive devices (IEDs) so this flight attendant was wise to call attention to it.

One way to immediately know if your extinguishers have been removed, depressurized or blocked is to monitor them with en-Gauge.

How sad is this? Just days before school is supposed to start vandals strike the same school twice in two days. This follows vandalism at another school in the district that resulted in $50,000 in damage.

Of course, fire extinguishers were used in each case. The school is now installing cameras. Another good option would be en-Gauge electronically monitored fire extinguishers. When done, security and law enforcement officials could be immediately notified when an extinguisher was removed -- perhaps allowing for the vandals to be caught in the act.

Electronic monitoring of fire extinguishers and annual safety inspections make schools safer.

We run across these stories ALL the time.  Fire extinguishers are the first response against indoor fires. Properly functioning fire extinguishers can put out the majority of early stage fires. In order to protect the lives of those who you are responsible for it is important to ensure that your fire extinguishers are working properly. Here are 10 recent incidents in which fire extinguishers were stolen or vandalized leaving a building at risk in the case of Dickenson High or and in extreme cases like the motel fire in Hoover Alabama, resulted in loss of life.

1. http://www.engaugeinc.net/blog/2010/06/08/extinguishers-stolen-high-school-again 
2. http://www.engaugeinc.net/blog/2009/11/17/fire-extinguisher-and-related-vandalism-costs-mississippi-school-district-30000 
3. http://www.engaugeinc.net/blog/2010/03/08/vandals-set-extinguisher-fl-elementary-school 
4. http://www.engaugeinc.net/blog/2009/12/17/extinguisher-vandalism-results-6000-fine-drew-university
5.  http://www.engaugeinc.net/blog/2010/05/24/miami-students-cause-10k-extinguisher-vandalism-damage 
6. http://www.engaugeinc.net/blog/2010/03/23/extinguisher-used-possible-bomb-boise 
7. http://www.engaugeinc.net/blog/2010/02/12/boston-city-and-ma-state-buildings-not-following-codes 
8. http://www.engaugeinc.net/blog/2010/01/31/tragic-hotel-fire-leads-four-student-deaths-nearby-extinguisher-was-operable 
9. http://www.engaugeinc.net/blog/2010/01/31/cayce-sc-high-school-sustains-75000-damage-vandalism 
10. http://www.engaugeinc.net/blog/2009/12/17/i-only-wanted-make-it-snow-0

Stories like these are testament to the fact that in this day and age, there is no excuse for not monitoring fire extinguishers. A thirty-day checkup is simply not good enough, especially when we have the option to monitor extinguisher’s 24 hours a day.

This latest incident of extinguisher theft brings the total to 20 stolen/missing fire extinguishers in the Town of Dickinson, ND.

A couple have been found discharged and strewn about town, but those that need to be replaced -- will cost $100 each.

The vandals in this case have yet to be caught.

There is an option to help prevent further vandalism -- electronic monitoring of fire extinguishers deters vandalism because the instant notification of removal means that authorities can respond quickly -- perhaps catching the bad guys in the act.

Electronic monitoring of fire extinguishers and annual inspections make schools safer.

"I'm angry, I'm angry, I'm angry," said Quincy House Allston Burr Resident Dean Judith F. Chapman. "It's so destructive to the community. Maybe it was ignorance. Now everyone who reads The Crimson will know: Don't play with the fire extinguisher."

Readers of this blog know that vandalism of fire extinguishers on college and university campuses is very common - except in those places where they use en-Gauge electronically monitored fire extinguishers. There vandalism is scant, clean-up costs nil and working fire extinguishers are assured.

Vandals are at it again. Breaking into a school and setting off fire extinguishers. A fire alarm also went off causing the fire department to respond, despite the fact there was no fire. Electronically monitored fire extinguishers would have notified authorities when an extinguisher was removed perhaps helping the police catch the vandals in the act.