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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.

According to the most recent NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) data, in 2010 U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 1,331,500 fires. These fires resulted in 3,120 civilian fire fatalities, 17,720 civilian fire injuries and an estimated $15,478,000,000 in direct property loss.

Of these fires 98,000 were responded to in commercial or municipal buildings. Of the over $11.6 billion in property damage, more than $2.6 billion took place in these non-residential structures. This represents an average loss per reported incident in non-residential / commercial structures of over $34,000.

This only tells a portion of the fire story, however.

Fire Extinguishers Effectively Put Out 80% of All Fires

To highlight the effectiveness of extinguishers in the early stage fire fighting, a 2002 UK study performed by FETA (Fire Extinguishing Trades Association) and IFEDA (Independent Fire Engineering and Distributors Association)5 reviewed over 2100 fire incidents and found that in 80% of the cases a portable fire extinguisher successfully extinguished the fire and in 75% of those cases, the fire department was not required to attend.

A similar survey was conducted in 2002 by EUROFEU (European Committee of the Manufacturers of Fire Protection Equipment and Fire Fighting Vehicles)in 6 European countries and it found strikingly consistent results. In over 2600 incidents recorded it concluded that in 81.5% of cases the portable extinguisher successfully extinguished the fire and in 74.6% of the cases the fire department was not required to attend.
 
Extrapolating the results of these surveys to the U.S. market provides solid statistical evidence that in approximately 80% of all fire incidents a portable fire extinguisher is the only fire fighting tool needed to extinguish the fire. Further, they indicate that in 60% of all fire incidents the fire department is not notified (and thus the event would not appear in NFPA statistics).

Fire Extinguisher Success Rates (Estimated)

• Fires Handled entirely by extinguishers with Fire Department not being notified = 1,997,250
• Commercial Strucure fires handled entirely by exinguishers with Fire Department not being notified = 147,000
• Estimated savings in avoided property loss in commercial buildings = 147,000 X $34,000 equals $4.998 Billion
• Fires in which fire extinguishers were the only needed form of fire supression = 5,326,000
• Fires in commercial structures in which extinguishers were the only needed form of fire suppression = 392,000

Although these are only estimates, these numbers make clear that the positive impact of fire extinguishers on society is tremendous.  When fire extinguishers are not available to do their job because they are blocked, missing or depressurized, the results can be deadly, catastrophic and costly.  en-Gauge's electronic fire extinguisher monitoring solution makes sure these vital life safety devices are available, accessible and working properly.

To learn why electronically monitored fire extinguishers are also the most environmentally friendly form of fire protection, check out this White Paper going over all the details.

en-Gauge is dedicated to improving life safety, and for years we have been discussing the dangers related to uninspected and empty, missing and blocked fire extinguishers.  Still, it never fails to distress us when we learn about a situation where uninspected fire extinguishers are a contributing factor to the loss of life.  

A recent report from KOB Eyewitness News in Albuquerque, NM highlights just the kind of danger that unispected extinguishers can pose to families.  In this situation, the extinguisher inspections were negelected in an apartment complex and the results were fatal for a little girl.  According to kob.com:

There are many Albuquerque apartment complexes with big problems. What landlords and tenants may not realize is that some problems could be a matter of life or death.

A fire ripped through one Albuquerque apartment, killing one-year-old Malia Mitchell last September. The girl's mother tried using two different fire extinguishers but said neither of them worked.

Watch the full report here to learn more.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently announced plans to federally fund Automated External Defibrillators and related training in hockey arenas and community recreation centers throughout Canada.  According to the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation in their announcement of the initiative:

Defibrillators are electronic devices used to restart a person's heart that has stopped beating. They are safe, easy to use, and can be operated effectively by the lay public.

Up to 85 per cent of all cardiac arrests occur in public settings or homes. Less than five per cent of victims who have a cardiac arrest outside of hospital survive. The early use of a defibrillator along with CPR before the arrival of emergency services can increase the individual's chance of survival by up to 75 per cent. This is critical, given that the survival rate decreases seven to 10 per cent with every passing minute.

At en-Gauge, we are big believers in the effectiveness and importance of AED's.  That is why we provide electronic monitoring of these critical life safety devices - to make sure they are where they are supposed to be and ready for action.  For more information on how en-Gauge can help you deploy and monitor your AED life safety program, contact us today.

I am starting to be dismayed by how many fire extinguisher violations I run across.  It's not as if I look at every fire extinguisher at every location I visit - although, growing up in the fire protection industry, I probably do look at 20% of them.  In the last week, I've run across three more, and I am just one guy sitting in my office most days.

If I am finding this many, the number of blocked, missing or depressurized extinguishers has to be truly daunting.  It points out just how insufficient the 30-day manual fire extinguisher inspection as required by NFPA really is.  Now that we are about to pass 1000 followers on Twitter, I think it is time to start asking other safety professionals to start keeping an eye out and forwarding along pictures.

Here are my most recent fire extinguisher inspection violations

Blocked Fire Extinguisher

Empty Fire Extinguisher at a Restaurant

Blocked or Missing Fire Extinguisher at a Restaurant

Keep your eyes open for the announcement of the great fire extinguisher violation hunt.

There are a bunch of travellers happy that the fire extinguishers on their flight from New York to Los Angeles worked properly.  According to the New York Post:

Flight 27, on its way from Kennedy to Los Angeles on May 16, had just leveled off at 36,000 feet when its pilots heard a "hissing sound and saw smoke."

 "The captain stated that, ‘within a couple of seconds,’ a fire started and that he saw flames emanating from the top of the glare shield," the NTSB said.

The smoke wasn’t thick, but it was acrid, the pilots reported.

Capt. Boyd Hammack emptied the cockpit fire extinguisher on the blaze. But that wasn’t enough — the fire erupted again, and Hammack had to call a flight attendant for another fire extinguisher.

As Hammack and his and first officer steered for an emergency landing at Dulles airport near Washington, Hammack’s windshield suddenly cracked.

That forced the first officer to take over the controls. He landed the plane safely, and no one was hurt.

That must have been a scary time for the passengers on-board.  With so many lives on the line and each relying on the efficacy of the fire extinguishers on board, it reminds us that there is no reason these critical life safety devices are not electronically monitored.  Add in the threat of terrorism, and monitoring all extinguishers on commercial planes should be mandatory.  It just makes sense.

I was in New York City yesterday for a meeting, and as I was walking through the parking garage to my car for the drive home, I noticed a fire extinguisher case to the side.  As I usually do when I have a free moment, I walked over to make sure the extinguisher was in place and fully charged.  Unfortunately, the extinguisher was empty.  I snapped this photo and shook my head.  Having grown up in the fire protection industry, it always upsets me when I see something like this as I know how important having a working extinguisher can be in an emergency....that is why we started en-Gauge - to make sure that critical life safety equipment was monitored 24/7 and available when needed.

So this morning when I checked my Google Alerts and found this story, I was deeply saddened.  A West Virginia man was working in a parking garage earlier this month when an explosion occured and the man caught on fire.  According to WSAZ.com, the local TV station's news site:

Mark Ziegler, an employee at the city garage, tells WSAZ.com that he heard what sounded like a bomb. Ziegler says he then rushed inside the garage to see George Willoughby on fire. He and other workers then used fire extinguishers to put out the flames.

Willoughby is listed in critical condition at Cabell Huntington Hospital.

Thank goodness the fire extinguishers in this instance were where they were supposed to be an working properly.  For more information on how to make sure your garage extinguishers are monitored consistently and to be sure they are ready for emergencies, contact us.

At en-Gauge, we are passionate about life safety, and we love to hear success stories about life safety devices that we monittor and track.  It is no surprise to us the number of success stores about Automated External Defibrillators that come accross our desks, but you may not know what a major role they play in saving lives

Here are a few of the stories so far from February.

Police Officers use AED to save man's life at YMCA in Framingham, MA

A man suffered what appears to be a heart attack while exercising at a YMCA.  Police officers responded to the 911 call and arrived before the ambulance.  In an article in the Metro West Daily News, 

The man was not breathing when the officers arrived, {Police spokesman] Brandolini said.

 

"They used an AED the YMCA provided for them, and they revived him before anyone else arrived," he said.

 

The man, whose name and age were not available, was taken to MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham. Doctors said the man may have suffered a heart attack. The man was conscious and talking when the officers later stopped by the hospital to check on him.

 

"The cardiologist said they did an outstanding job," said Brandolini. "He could have been a fatality. It appears they brought him back."

 

Georgia Police Officer Credited With Saving Man's Life With Defibrillator

As part a new program in DeKalb County, Georgie, all police officers went through training in the use of AED's and were certified in CPR.  One resident of Dunwoody is glad they did.  According to the Atlanta Journal Consitution:

Officer Dale Laskowski responded to a call on Mile Post Drive at about 5:45 p.m. on Feb. 3, according to police. When Laskowski arrived at the home, he noticed the man "was unresponsive and not breathing."

 

Laskowski then applied the pads of the Automated External Defibrillator and began assessing the man. When the officer determined there was no pulse, he administered CPR until the DeKalb County Fire Department arrived at the scene

It is always great to see local governments take a hand in improving life safety training and capability.

Hockey Trainer Saves Man's Life With Help of AED

Athletic Trainer Chris Walker was leaving the Comcast Arena after a recent game between the Everett Silverpops and Seattle Thunderbirds when he heard commotion coming from the community rink next door.  It is a good thing for 56-year-old recreational hockey player Barry Searles that he did.  Searles had suffered a heart attack and Walker jumped into action.

According to HeraldNet.com, a newspaper covering the Everett Region

Walker assessed Sarles’ condition, finding Sarles wasn’t breathing and had an irregular pulse. Walker called for the arena’s automatic external defibrillator (AED), which was promptly delivered by security staff member Jordan LaPier, and directed a bystander to call 911.

Walker had been trained in defibrillator use, but had never actually used one before.

“The AEDs are great because you don’t really have to do anything,” Walker said. “You turn them on and it starts to check right away. It analyzed for rhythm for him and said we needed to shock him. I told everybody to back up and hit the button to shock him.

“That’s the weird thing, the whole body jumps,” Walker added. “It’s just like it is on TV or the movies.”

After administering the shock, Walker repositioned Sarles in order to open an airway for the man to breathe. Walker and DeCrow then took turn administering CPR until the emergency medical services personnel arrived approximately five minutes later.

The EMTs shocked several more times before brining him to the hospital.  Walker was concerned that his efforts may have been in vain, but Searle made good progress once he arrived at the hospital for treatment. 

Chalk up another win for AED's

Bystander's Save Man with CPR and AED at Mall in Eureka, CA

Ordinary people can make all the difference in an emergency situation, and this was the case when a man collapsed in a mall in California.  According to the Times-Standard, a paper covering California's north coast, 

The efforts of two citizens helped crew members with the Eureka Fire Department save a life on Friday.

A single engine responded to the Bayshore Mall shortly after 8 a.m. to a report of a man collapsed on the ground unconscious, according to a press release. Upon arriving at the scene, firefighters found two people performing CPR on the man and continued CPR with an automatic external defibrillator before an ambulance arrived.

The patient's pulse was restored on scene, according to the release, and on his way to the hospital he was breathing on his own and showed an increased level of consciousness.

These stories are more common than you can imagine.  It is clear how quickly AED's have become a vital part of a life safety program.  en-Gauge is the only company that tracks and monitors AED's electronically to ensure that they are available, charged and ready for use 24/7/365.  Contact us to learn how we can help you make sure your life safety devices are ready when you need them.