By Lindsey Seavert and Joel Chow
The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
Copyright 2007 The Columbus Dispatch
All Rights Reserved
COLUMBUS, Ohio — More than a third of the classroom buildings in the Columbus Public Schools flunked parts of recent fire inspections, but top district administrators weren’t aware of the scope of the problem.
For years, the results of inspections by the Columbus Fire Division were kept by individual schools and not tracked by, or even forwarded to, the district’s central office.
That’s about to change. Alerted to the situation by WBNS-TV (Channel 10), district officials say they have begun requiring principals to send inspection reports to their supervisors for review.
“Columbus Public Schools takes the well-being of its students and staff very seriously and will redouble its efforts to ensure that fire-safety protocols are reinforced at all levels of the organization,” the district said in a statement.
District spokesman Jeff Warner said central-office administrators have met with all building principals and their supervisors to inform them of the new requirements and to remind them of their obligations under Ohio law.
“We told them, ‘This is a requirement. This is nonnegotiable, and there will be action taken if staff members fail to perform this responsibility,’ ” Warner said.
Fire Division reports for the past two years show that at least 46 of the district’s 128 schools had violations, many recurring. Among the most common: no posted evacuation plans, outdated fire extinguishers, malfunctioning fire alarms and exits that were broken, locked or blocked.
Some schools hadn’t conducted monthly fire drills as required by state law.
At Devonshire Alternative Elementary on the North Side, inspectors found an older-model alarm system that reset, or turned off, after one minute. Ohio’s fire code requires school alarms to sound for two to three minutes.
At Moler Elementary School on the South Side, inspectors discovered that the fire alarm wasn’t working. The inspection report said the principal had told the building’s custodian to reset the alarm after a fire drill and the custodian inadvertently had turned if off. It’s unclear how long the system was shut down.
Now that they’re aware of the various hazards identified by fire inspectors, district administrators are dedicated to eliminating the problems, Warner said.
“While there are some concerns, they’re being addressed,” he said. “The majority of those issues are being taken care of, and processes are under way.”
Battalion Chief Doug Smith, a spokesman for the Fire Division, said the school district has been quick to correct violations.
Smith also said his division, like the district, is committed to improving fire-safety procedures at the schools.
He acknowledged that at least two Columbus schools went without inspection in 2005, even though state law mandates annual inspections.
“We’re short-staffed,” Smith said, noting that traditionally only one person has been responsible for inspecting all of the district’s schools. “There is a possibility we weren’t able to get to it that year, which typically doesn’t happen.”