When Fire Risk Becomes Reality — How Can You Protect Your Facilities?Even with the best property risk-management efforts in place, a loss can still occur at your agency, and one due to fire can be particularly disruptive. PDRMA’s member “coverage” goes beyond the liability policy — to resources to help you protect facilities and claim support should a loss occur.
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| Golf Maine Dee Park Maintenance Garage |
In 2015, Golf Maine Park District experienced a fire in its Dee Park Maintenance Garage when an overhead heater failed. “Heat sensors activated the fire alarm in the garage, which notified the fire department,” reports Executive Director John Jekot. The incident, he says, underscored the importance of keeping good inventory records for property and equipment, as well as improving housekeeping procedures.
Dan Fritz, PE, President of Kodiak Fire Protection Services, agrees good housekeeping plays an important role in fire safety and prevention by reducing ignition sources. Ensuring no-smoking restrictions and the use of PDRMA’s Hot Works program should also be part of housekeeping guidelines, he recommends.
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| Golf Maine Dee Park Maintenance Garage |
“Maintaining fire protection equipment in good working order — as well as developing a solid pre-emergency response plan — is part of good risk management as well,” he explains. “Of course, automatic sprinkler protection provides the most reliable and cost-effective way to control fires in commercial properties. The resultant property damage from fire, smoke and water in a sprinkler-protected building is significantly lower than in non-sprinklered buildings.”
Fritz points out that maintaining the equipment is as important as having it. “It’s critical that your system be in good working order with all fire protection sprinkler control valves open,” he stresses. “Inspect them monthly, and have a qualified contractor conduct inspections and test the equipment in line with NFPA standards regularly.”
He also suggests completing infrared thermographic surveys of electric equipment to identify hot spots and supervising contractors to ensure they follow loss control programs and procedures whenever they’re working at a facility.
A wiring problem on a maintenance tractor in a barn at Afton Forest Preserve, part of DeKalb County Forest Preserve, underscored the importance of fire safety equipment. “The tractor, which we use for maintenance work, was put back in the barn, and when an employee came back later, he saw it was on fire,” recounts Terry Hannan, Superintendent of Parks.
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| Origin of barn fire at DeKalb County Forest Preserve |
With no fire detection system in the building, the resulting damage and replacement costs exceeded $100,000. “We used other equipment until we purchased replacements,” he says. “Luckily, it didn’t negatively impact our visitors’ experience.”
In the wake of the fire, Hannan gives PDRMA’s Claims Department and third-party contractors high marks in making the claims experience more manageable. “There was excellent communication and partnership between us and PDRMA,” he says, and notes that since the incident, the district has installed fire detection equipment in the barn.
“Our goal is to help members resolve every claim as quickly and efficiently as possible,” explains Betty Dawson, AIC, PDRMA Claims Consultant. “And we choose to work with vendors that can keep business disruption to a minimum.”
Sometimes, even when you follow fire safety procedures, you still may need the fire department — and that’s when frequent inspections and proper documentation come into play.
Ten years ago, despite weekly inspections by staff and quarterly inspections by an outside contractor, a treadmill melted down one night at the Elmhurst Park District’s Courts Plus facility. Fire detection system requirements are unique to each building, and one of Courts Plus’s features is high ceilings. Since the facility didn’t have a smoke-detection system, it took longer for the small treadmill fire to build up enough heat to trigger the alarm, causing more damage. “It would have been mostly smoke damage, ” observes Jim Rogers, Executive Director, commenting on the impact of the fire. “The GE Vigilant VS Series fire suppression system worked just as it should, including summoning the fire department,” but it did not include a smoke detection component.
Fortunately, the facility was empty, but black smoke left a burned rubber odor and stained every surface. “Water from the fire hoses soaked the fitness floor and the lower level,” explains Greg Utaski, Division Manager of Facilities and Grounds, Enterprise Services. “Even worse, we had just re-carpeted that floor and installed new poured-rubber flooring in the free-weight areas.”
Utaski called PDRMA that night and was directed to contact ACR, Inc., a vendor specializing in emergency response for water and fire damage. “We called them at 2 a.m., and they were on-site by 8 a.m.,” he recalls. “ACR played a major role in getting areas of the facility restored fast; we were able to re-open for business quickly.” The repairs took about a month, and, of course, the agency replaced all the treadmills with a different model.
“Having reliable, preferred contractors is critical to help reduce the severity of a loss,” explains Dawson. “It also gives the member a sense of calm in an extremely chaotic situation.”
In the ensuing subrogation action filed by PDRMA against the treadmill manufacturer, Elmhurst’s documentation won the case. “We develop and use checklists related to every aspect of safety, correcting violations and completing any needed repairs in a timely manner,” Utaski says. “We had good documentation of our monthly and quarterly treadmill inspections, and when we installed the new carpeting before the fire, staff had an electrician check all the electrical connections for the fitness floor equipment — and the work ticket documented that.
“Safety is priority one,” he adds. “Check, inspect, repair and document. I have been operating the Courts Plus facility for 22 years and have found PDRMA always to be a valuable partner — but especially in the worst of times. I won’t forget PDRMA has seen it all and can guide their members through any unexpected situation.”
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