To the editor:
Re: “Sprinkler ruling douses parents’ hopes,’ Jan. 14
I, like many others, am having a hard time swallowing this situation. While I have no direct information from the courtroom discussions and only have the info I have read about from the paper and website, I am certainly no expert on all of the facts.
I am however, somewhat familiar with fixed fire suppression systems and have an understanding on the series of events which happen.
I understand that a student dislodged a fusible plug from a sprinkler head with a padlock. Once this is done, the pressurized water in the system (via an buffer or accumulator tank) starts to flow from the affected head. This will normally trigger a flap or flow switch, which will set off an alarm, and in some cases start a pump to keep the water at the delivery pressure. These sprinklers are usually set in fire zones and can be isolated zone by zone via an isolation valve at each said zone.
The main issues I am curious about are how long was the water flowing before it was stopped? Was it stopped by the fire department once they mustered? Was it stopped by an on-site person such as the custodian? Have school budgets been reduced to a point where custodians are not on the premise until after school hours?
I feel that while this student did act inappropriate and should be punished for his or her action, this was an unfair and excessive punishment aimed more at the student’s parents than the student directly. The student would have no knowledge of the way this system operates.
I would suspect for the courts to come down on this case so heavily it sends a fairly clear message that they also have no idea how these systems operate either.
I am bothered by the way this situation was handled. Accidents happen. I would really be curious to know how long the sprinklers ran without being isolated.
Rick, via Comments section
