Campus Fire and Security

Reading the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment is a positive experience.  As one colleague said to me, “I felt hopeful after reading it that so many smart people are throwing the weight of their institutions behind finding the answers to climate change.”  I couldn’t agree more. 

In their commitment, they lay out their mission:

We believe colleges and universities must exercise leadership in their communities and throughout society by modeling ways to minimize global warming emissions, and by providing the knowledge and the educated graduates to achieve climate neutrality. Campuses that address the climate challenge by reducing global warming emissions and by integrating sustainability into their curriculum will better serve their students and meet their social mandate to help create a thriving, ethical and civil society. These colleges and universities will be providing students with the knowledge and skills needed to address the critical, systemic challenges faced by the world in this new century and enable them to benefit from the economic opportunities that will arise as a result of solutions they develop.

They also commit their institutions to taking key steps and reaching targeted milestones in pursuit of achieving climate neutrality “as quickly as possible”.  One of the most effective ways for the schools to reduce emissions is by committing to ‘green’ building programs, like LEED, for new construction projects and retrofits.

While we vigorously applaud these efforts, the fact is that the carbon emissions generated by just one major fire event can eliminate all of the carbon mitigation benefits accrued via those green building projects.  FM Global calculates that fire and risk of fire increases the carbon emissions of buildings by 3% over their lifetime.  With this in mind, it is vital to take aggressive steps to minimize fire risk when implementing any carbon reduction plan.

I encourage you to read The Environmental Impact of Electronically Monitored Fire Extinguishers.  This White Paper reviews the greenhouse gas impacts of fire as well as the critical carbon mitigating effects of fire extinguishers and in particular electronically monitored extinguishers.  Some of the key findings from the report include:

• Fast and early fire suppression with fire extinguishers is the most environmentally-friendly way (carbon emitted, water use, water pollution, additional pollution) to extinguish fire


• Empty and missing fire extinguishers have been a contributing factor to large conflagrations likely contributing thousands of tons of CO2 to the atmosphere annually


• Manual inspections of fire extinguishers are a contributing  factor in greenhouse gas emissions


• Electronic monitoring of fire extinguishers can be highly beneficial in reducing carbon emissions, lowering water consumption and minimizing toxic material release 

Download this free white paper and learn about the most effective way to ensure your Climate Commitement isn’t put at risk by unneccesary fires. 

They tipped over furniture, dumped paint, shattered glass and of course, discharged fire extinguishers. What a costly mess these vandals created and just before the doors open for school.

School vandalism is a huge problem that costs tens of thousands of dollars annually and catching the bad guys in the act happens infrequently at best.

Electronically monitored fire extinguishers immediately notify officials when one is removed. Faster notification means less damage, less cost and perhaps catching the vandals in the act.

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.

Hard to believe that kids in colleges have been doing this for years without school administrators knowing.  Brings new meaning to school safety.

This latest incident of extinguisher theft brings the total to 20 stolen/missing 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.

Security cameras caught several middle school students wreaking havoc inside the school with fire extinguishers.

The end result -- $10,000 in damage.

Extinguisher vandalism in schools happens all the time (just read the other blog posts here) -- costing thousands of dollars in damage, lost productivity and school-day interruption.

Electronic monitoring of extinguishers has proven to reduce vandalism and theft.

Despite the early morning hour, a resident assistant knew exactly what to do when a student found a trash can fire in a residence hall bathroom. First the alarm, then the extinguisher -- which worked great and put out the fire. No injuries, and just a little clean up needed. Kudos to both involved!

"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.