Checking Those Exit Signs, Those Fire Exits, The Night Lights

Just about now, when the students and teachers fled school, fire marshals and electricians head in. They visit every school. They check and repair any fire safety device that broke in the last year that nobody caught during the school year.

Tuesday was the Danbury High School turn, and three people walked every hallway and checked every fire alarm, every fire extinguisher, every emergency light, every exit. They checked doors, fire exits, and they wrote down what they saw. Ceiling tiles missing for some reason? Make a note.

"We have to note that. We have to get the tiles replaced. If a fire gets up in there, you can't see it," said Deputy Fire Marshal Jim Russell, who arrived at 4:30 a.m. at Danbury High School Tuesday. Rogers Park was Thursday.

They start in the dark at about 4:45 a.m. so when they shut off power to the school, they can see which emergency lights are broken. They walk the hallways together, taking notes along the way, comparing and agreeing on what they see. That initial tour takes two-and-a-half hours.

After a quick coffee break, they head out again, this time with the repair list, tools, replacement parts, a ladder and rolling scaffold in hand. They return and start making repairs.

"Doing it once a year is all right, so long as we do it right," said Rich Russell, a mechanic 3 who has worked for the city for five years. Doing it right means Russell backs up Mike Patton, an electrician with 10 years with the city and Fire Marshal Russell, (no relation to Rich), who was going through Danbury High School for the third year. "We want to make sure it's safe. I've got kids."

What happens in the course of a year is things break. Snow and lightening have knocked out the power any number of times during the year. That takes a toll on electrical components. A light bulb in a corridor emergency lighting system blows out. They replace it. The battery, which must by fire code keep an emergency Exit sign lit for 90 minutes, wears out. It is replaced.

The stage exit door to the high school assembly room is marked, "Use Other Door," and the door won't open. That door must be repaired, Fire Marshal Russell said. He's already talked to city workers about replacing it. An exit sign at the other end of the auditorium won't turn on. It is labeled "N/G" for no good, and the $100 replacement will take a couple of weeks to arrive.

Elsewhere in the school, Mike Patton is working on a battery back-up system that failed during the year. It powers emergency lights on five floors. It isn't working. It was installed in 1964. Patton is calling another electrician who hits the internet, looking for parts.

"That isn't good," Russell said. "People may panic when the lights go out. We want to make sure what they aren't doing is panicing because the emergency lights go out. We make sure they go on."