NEWS

Fire Department Honored

by Josh Rosen

Since 1994, the International Association of Fire Chiefs and Operation Life Safety have recognized fire departments across the United States for the combined effort of an outstanding fire safety record by responding to and extinguishing fires without a single loss of life and for proactive fire prevention measures. Of the 207 fire departments selected for recognition for the 1996 year, the Oberlin Fire Department was lauded with this honor.

According to Oberlin Fire Chief Dennis Kirin, Oberlin attained the 1996 Life Safety Achievement Award after a review of the fire department's 1996 Annual Operating Report and activities by the Life Safety selection committee. The report highlighted the Oberlin Fire Department structure and the fire prevention/public education programs the department provides.

The most significant fire prevention program for 1996 was the fire inspection effort between the fire department and Oberlin College. The synergy which developed between the two institutions and the lines of open communication between the Department and the College have both helped contribute to the fact that only three small fires occurred on campus last year.

The alarm system at the college, according to Fire Chief Dennis Kirin, is "State of the art and no system is as good in the state of Ohio."

The system, which is upgraded yearly, is so sophisticated that when a smoke detector on campus goes off, the fire department is not only notified about which building it goes off in, but also the floor, room number and whether the building in which the smoke alarm occurs is a student's room or a college facility that does not house students. Kirin praised the College for continually updating the fire detection system.

"College administration is consistently updating it as need be and reviewing to make it better," Kirin said.

The three actual fires that occurred on campus last year were not the only occasions the Oberlin Fire Department was seen on campus. In 1996, there were over 170 false alarms that the fire department responded to at Oberlin College. The exorbitant amount of false alarms can be best explained by the sophistication of the fire detection system. Kirin is not bothered by the amount of false alarms and prefers to view them as "Safeguards and preventative [measures], so that serious fires do not occur."

Once a week, a Oberlin Fire Department Inspector and representative from College security do an inspection tour in one or two buildings a week. According to Kirin, "The purpose of the inspections is preventative and a process by which the department can make sure everything works. Fire prevention goes on 52 weeks a year."

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Copyright © 1997, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 126, Number 6, October 10, 1997

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