Fire sprinklers threaten school safety
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The school has never had fire sprinklers. When the fire alarm rings, students and teachers are expected to evacuate the classroom with the emergency backpack and wait at a safe area until the all-clear bell has rung. Because a fire extinguisher is not always user-friendly and the fire department takes several minutes to arrive, fire sprinklers should be put in place to further protect students and classrooms, as safety should be the number one priority.
Sprinklers are as important as fire extinguishers. If sprinklers were installed in each hallway and classroom, it would create a much safer environment. Automatic sprinklers are a faster and easier solution to extinguishing a fire because it may take too much time to remove the fire extinguisher, read the instructions for proper use, and operate it for those who are inexperienced.
Heat-sensitive sprinklers could be connected to the location where a fire alarm is pulled, that way only a specific area would have to evacuate. Because the campus is large, it would not be necessary for all students on campus to evacuate. This would save students and staff from having to clear campus unnecessarily, maximizing instructional time.
For instance, within the past month, many falsely pulled fire alarms have occurred. Most of these false pulls have come from the locker rooms and bathrooms. If sprinklers were in place and students in non affected areas did not have to evacuate, this system would have saved instructional time and general frustration.
However, the science building performs many laboratory experiments, the smoke or fumes from chemicals may cause the fire alarm to go off, and it could trigger the sprinklers. Nevertheless, this is a small sacrifice to make if it means creating a safer, more efficient campus.
Installing sprinklers would create a safer school environment, and it would promote a more efficient fire evacuation system.
