Letter from Senator Warren

Dear John,

Thank you for contacting me about school safety. 

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has observed that "no school can be a great school until it is a safe school first."  I agree with Secretary Duncan.  Schools need the resources to assess and respond to their security needs and to provide personnel with the training they need to keep classrooms, hallways, and playgrounds safe.  Improving physical security, staff and student safety awareness, and coordination with local law enforcement are important steps that will make our schools safer. 

Creating safer environments for students must also involve creating school communities that are welcoming and supportive.  Unfortunately, a recent study by the National Center for Education Statistics found that around 28% of students ages 12 through 18 reported being bullied in school at least once in the year prior to the sudy.  Students who are bullied demonstrate lower academic achievement, are more likely to miss school, have increased anxiety levels, and are at greater risk of experiencing depression.  If students are to excel, we must make sure that schools are places where all young people -- regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, or race -- can feel confident and respected. 

For these and other reasons, I believe that improvements to physical security should be accompanied by efforts to make school environments more welcoming and supportive.  I believe that government can help promote safe schools by providing resources to improve physical security, keeping students safe and expanding access to mental health services for students.  Government can also take action by prohibiting discrimination against students based on personal characteristics and by requiring local education agencies to establish guidelines, both for students and school personnel, that address bullying. 

I will be sure to keep your comments in mind as I work with my colleagues on these issues. 

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Warren
United States Senator

Washington, DC Russell Senate Office Building 2 Russell Courtyard Washington, DC 20510 Phone: 202-224-4543

Boston, MA 2400 JFK Federal Building 15 New Sudbury Street Boston, MA 02203 Phone: 617-565-3170

Springfield, MA 1550 Main Street Suite 406 Springfield, MA 01103 Phone: 413-788-2690

It’s Alarming…

By John M. Stofa ©2013

 

We have all seen it, the “button” that is inside and outside an elevator cab that looks like a firefighter’s helmet.  But what does it do?  Many people are under the false impression that it is a button that you can use to call the fire department in the event that you get stuck inside the cab and need help.  Many have no idea what it is.  What is alarming to me is the amount of firefighters who have no idea what that button does, when they are the very people that it was designed for!

Actually, it is not a button at all. It is an indicator light that is meant to show the fire department that the elevator is in recall mode or fire service mode.  What does that mean? Simply put:

Fire Recall Mode – This means that a smoke detector mounted in front of the elevator doors on each level that the elevator serves has gone into alarm.  Because the smoke or fire may be very close to the elevator cab, the elevator goes into “Recall” mode and automatically returns the cab to the Ground Floor (Primary Recall Floor) and the elevator doors open and stay open.  Once they open, the elevator is “parked” and it may not be used until it is released from Recall Mode with a key.  If the Ground Floor smoke detector is the one that went into alarm, then the elevator cab would stop at the next logical floor such as the Basement or Second Floor, thus not opening the doors to the elevator on the floor that may contain smoke.  This is called the “Alternate Floor” or “Secondary Recall Floor”.  During this mode, the “Fire Hat” symbol will be lit solid as an indication of Fire Recall Mode.

Fire Service Mode – This is a unique operation of the elevator that allows it to be used by fire department responders.  The FD has a special key that they are able to use to gain access to the elevator so they can quickly move firefighters and equipment to the floor below the fire and set up firefighting operations. 

Once arriving at the scene, firefighters will use their key to either recall the elevators to the Lobby if they are not recalled already, or they will take over the parked elevator cabs.  Using their key inside the cab, the firefighters will place the cab into “Manual Service Mode”. This means that all functions in the cab will work, but the operator must push and hold the desired function such as closing the doors to the elevator. Simply pushing the “close door button” is not enough to activate it; it must be pushed and held until the doors are closed as an example.

The second phase of the Fire Recall Mode activates as the smoke condition worsens.  If the smoke should spread to the Elevator Machine Room or in some cases the Elevator Shaft, detectors within will activate and the Fire Hat will begin to flash.  This is the indication to the FD that it is time to abandon the elevator for its safety is compromised and unexpected or undesired actions by the elevator cab may occur.

Finally, in some areas the system could have a heat detector mounted in the Elevator Machine Room.  This heat detector is special in that if it is activated by heat from the fire, power will automatically be shut off to the elevator and the cab will stop and power down immediately wherever it is.  Therefore, it is imperative that firefighters remove themselves from the cab immediately when the fire hat symbol begins to flash to avoid entrapment. 

 

Solid-Lit Fire Helmet Elevator is in Fire Recall or Fire Service Mode Flashing Fire Helmet The Elevator Shaft or Elevator Machine Room may have smoke or fire within it.

In conclusion, elevators in the near future will be enhanced for survivability and built to withstand adverse conditions to allow them to be used as part of the building’s evacuation plan during a fire; but for now it is imperative that all emergency responders know about Fire Recall Mode and the warning indicators provided to us.

It is all about Time…

By John Stofa Copyright 2013

The recent attacks in Aurora and Newtown have proven one thing for certain; we will never be able to stop the armed gunman from attacking for no apparent reason with no advanced warning.  These evil actors walk amongst us,  they are heavily armed and not about to conduct their lives within the confines of any law.  So how do we protect ourselves and our loved ones; especially our most vulnerable and innocent young people?  There simply is no foolproof method, but we can slow down the armed intruder and make it harder for them to maneuver using technology. Technology that is already available today.  Technology that in the course of an attack could essentially help to slow down time.

There are many companies promoting their brand of products that are designed to help in extreme emergency situations like a shooting.  These systems are not designed to prevent the action, but merely to notify others during the situation and provide them with valuable information about what to do and where to go, and then update them as to when the emergency is over and it is safe to resume normal activities.  It was always believed that when activating these types of systems, we should provide discrete alarms in order to not alert the assailant.  This is probably not the right course of action for all situations.  The one thing we can learn from Newtown (and there will be much to be learned from Newtown) is the fact that the intruder “announced” himself at the front entrance with gunfire allowing the front office to alert the rest of the staff which gave them some time to react and prepare.  He was temporarily slowed down by the access control system and the exterior doors to the school before ultimately gaining access to the interior of the school.   If the intruder had simply walked in without notice without encountering resistance, the results may have been different.   This fact shows that the best practice for this type of emergency may be to broadcast (shout from the highest mountain) a simple warning message such as “intruder alert” to a highly trained staff that understands what that warning means, and how to react to it.  This early warning will allow us to basically slow down the event, provide necessary resistance and obstacles to the intruder, and give the emergency responders more time to get on-scene to end the violence.

Furthermore, in order help control these type of events in our schools, it is going to take a concerted effort from Architects and Engineers to design better and safer schools for our children. Schools that are less about the attractive finishes and award winning designs and more about safety and security.  Designs that incorporate features that we see in airport passenger terminals, prisons and police stations; but then are customized to be softer and less restrictive for public K-12 school use.  Design features such as man-traps, sally ports, or the funneling of all incoming people into “secure areas” such as an airport does.   We need to consider the idea of having trained security personnel stationed either in plain sight or discretely located at school entrances in order to stop or slow down the assailant and activate the buildings’ Emergency Communication System.  We are not ready for this brave new world, but this is the reality of where we are at today.

In conclusion, we need to help slow down time when these unthinkable events happen and allow the staff and first responders every possible second to do what they are trained to do.  No, we will not be able to stop the next attack, but we will be able to make it safer for all involved if we change the way we have done things in the past.

Part 2

John Stofa discussing the Introduction to Fire Alarm Course at Upper Cape Technical School with Pat McPartland.

John Stofa discussing the Introduction to Fire Alarm Course at Upper Cape Technical School with Pat McPartland.