School staff no longer required to watch for fires in Wake. How much did it cost to fix?
The Wake County school system is no longer under a “fire watch” requiring employees to spend their day only looking for signs of fire in schools.
In July, the school system announced that all 199 schools were being placed on a fire watch after fire inspectors discovered issues with fire alarm systems in more than two dozen schools.
But after spending $815,000 to address the issue, all schools have been released from the fire watch requirement, according to district documents. The school board got an update on the fire alarm situation on Tuesday.
Issues found in school fire alarms
Over the summer, Wake announced that fire inspectors discovered alterations with fire alarm panels in more than two dozen schools.
When maintenance is required, the fire alarm system is supposed to send an alert to the district’s central system and also send out an audible beep to alert employees at the school. Wake County fire inspectors discovered issues with the audible beeping system.
In response, the Fire Marshal’s Office rescinded the school system’s authority to test and maintain its own fire alarm systems. This required the school district to set up fire watches while it worked with private companies to test and certify all fire alarm systems.
Fire watchers monitored schools
In a fire watch, each school has a staff member continuously inspect the building while it’s occupied looking for signs of fire. That school employee is not allowed to perform any other job functions while on fire watch duty.
The fire watcher logs their findings in a report that’s submitted daily to the district’s Risk Management & Safety Department. In the event of a fire, the fire watcher’s job is to also alert building occupants and call 911.
Wake used a combination of school employees and people it hired to serve as fire watchers.
Fixing fire alarms in Wake schools
There are 257 fire alarm systems in the school district.
Wake contracted with four vendors to perform inspections and repairs.
Wake is spending an estimated $575,000 for inspections and repairs. The district is also spending an estimated $240,000 in additional labor for the fire watches.
The district says all 257 systems have passed inspections and been released from fire watch requirements.
This story was originally published December 2, 2024 at 12:06 PM.
