Schools tackle fire threat

When fire this week gutted a Salt Lake junior high that had no fire sprinklers, school officials around the state took notice.

And they're intent on pointing out improvements planned to prevent a recurrence at other schools — improvements, they say, that were in the works long before this week's inferno made headlines.

Nebo School District Superintendent Chris Sorensen said, for example, a $140 million bond issue voters approved last year will allow fire sprinklers to be installed in buildings that have sprinklers only in parts of the schools or none at all. The sprinkler systems will be installed over the next three years.

In Alpine School District, technology is already used as a supplement to a building's fire sprinklers. The technology is called "analog addressable monitors" and automatically alerts authorities when smoke is detected or an alarm sounds, district spokeswoman Jerrilyn Mortensen said.

In Salt Lake City, every school will have fire sprinklers by the end of the decade.

The sprinklers will come as part of larger seismic and other safety retrofits under a $136 million building bond voters approved in 1999. And at the time, the air-conditioning part of the retrofits and rebuilds — not fire sprinklers — got top billing with the public.

"It's kind of like paying for insurance," district spokesman Jason Olsen said. "You know there have been statistics and studies that have shown fire sprinklers are the best way to prevent fires from spreading. It seemed like a wise investment for our district."

Investment is a key word here.

Other districts with schools built before today's fire codes say they weigh building investments carefully. Sometimes plans don't include fire sprinkler upgrades, which Davis School District facilities director Gary Payne said cost up to $2 a square foot.

Granite has made no decisions as to installing sprinklers in the 62 schools that don't have them now, said Paul Sagers, Granite assistant superintendent over program services. But the fire certainly has heightened the district's awareness of schools that don't have them.

"It's real expensive to do," Sagers said. "But it is something that becomes more vivid as something like this happens."

Still, according to the state fire marshal, schools without sprinklers can be very safe. While property damage is a concern in school buildings without sprinklers, death or injury is less of a concern because of other safety measures — evacuation drills, for instance.

"Is there concern for the loss of property? Yes," Utah fire marshal Ron Morris said. "Is there great concern for the loss of life? Not a great concern."