Using undercover video, the Ch. 5 news team in Boston, MA discovered Boston City Hall and the MA State House were not in compliance with fire codes. The issue -- missing and non-inspected fire extinguishers.
Having a full fire safety system -- starting with extinguishers is vital to life safety. The NH State House gets it and installed electronically monitored fire extinguishers to protect safety, history and lives.
Whether real or a hoax, sadly this isn't the first time students have used a fire extinguisher as an IED (improvised explosive device).
Taking a common, "friendly" item, such as a fire extinguisher, and turning it into a dangerous weapon is becoming more and more prevalent. No one suspects a safety device would be used for anything other than safety; so it creates a great way to hide something very dangerous in plain site.
A guest at this airport hotel used an extinguisher to out a fire in his room that, according to news reports, appears to have started in a baseboard heater.
Working extinguishers are key to life safety. Codes require 30-day inspections of extinguishers, but fire safety is greatly improved with 24/7 electronic monitoring.
When fire alarms go off in your hotel just before 4:00 AM you have to figure it isn't good news.
In the case of the Hotel Sterling in Monroe, MI it was an intruder who used an non-monitored fire extinguisher to set the smoke alarms off and get people out of their rooms. The fire department also responded -- potentially keeping them from other more pressing emergencies.
Preventing disruption, vandalism and damage are just three of the many benefits of having electronically monitored fire extinguishers.
This is hard to write because it is so awful and tragic. Four young women died in a hotel fire. The alleged person responsible tried to use a fire extinguisher on it but said, "it malfunctioned" and "didn't work."
The poor college students didn't know what they were in for when they returned from break.Thieves broke in and they weren't happy with just stealing -- they had to cause damage too. In one case they sprayed the contents of an extinguisher making it "look like it had snowed."
Fire extinguishers are important life safety devices. If they are electronically monitored they can act as a deterrent against vandalism. It wouldn't have brought the kids stuff back, but they might have had less to clean up.
School districts across the country are facing huge unanticipated expenses as a result of damage from vandalism, much of which is caused with fire extinguishers. We can't lock up extinguishers because they are the first line of defense against a fire and prevent so many fires from spreading and causing severe damage.
This is what we call teamwork -- the student reported the fire and the teacher put it out. The third member of this team was the fire extiguisher that did its job. Congratulations to all three!
