Fire Marshall’s Office, PIFD & PIPD host community safety day

    PRESQUE ISLE – State and local public safety officials are planning a full day of events designed to better educate the community on how to stay safe. Coordinated by the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office, in conjunction with the Presque Isle Fire Department and the Presque Isle Police Department, Safety Day will be held today – Wednesday, April 16 – at Northern Maine Community College.     Activities in the morning will consist of informational safety exhibits in the main lobby of the Christie Building by representatives of all three agencies beginning at 8 a.m. and running through noon. The safety fair and all events are open to both the NMCC campus community and members of the general public.
    As part of the morning activity, members of the Presque Isle Fire Department will offer two hands-on workshops teaching participants how to use a fire extinguisher in an outdoor area on campus adjacent to the Christie and Edmunds buildings. The sessions will begin at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
    “The hands-on training sessions will reinforce overall knowledge in fire safety and better prepare the campus community, and the public, to react safely and appropriately in emergency situations,” said Adam Rider, deputy chief for the PIFD.
    Following the morning sessions, representatives of the company No Burn will conduct a live burn demonstration on campus. No Burn is a manufacturer of spray coatings that include a highly advanced line of non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, green fire retardants and fire reactants that render a vast array of materials incapable of burning, as well as inhibiting the growth of black toxic mold. The exercise, using both a small structure treated with the No Burn spray and one not treated, will show the difference the product can make on how a fire spreads and the level of damage caused.
    The live burn demonstration will be followed at 1 p.m. with the first of two informational seminars on the design, fabrication, installation and costs of residential sprinklers. Open to individuals who work in public safety, code enforcement, the construction trades, as well as to the general public, a second, identical session will be held at 6 p.m. to allow for more individuals to participate. Both sessions will be held in the Edmunds Conference Center at NMCC.
    “Residential sprinklers are a valuable resource that many have heard of but know little about. Studies have shown that the use of residential sprinkler systems can reduce the chance of dying in a fire by 69 percent. If this seminar, and the information provided can save just one life, it is worth the effort,” said Tim Lowell, senior fire investigator.
    Lowell has been working with Greg Day, fire inspector, and public safety officials in the Star City to coordinate the series of activities.
    “Schools, office buildings, factories, and other commercial buildings have benefited from fire protection sprinkler systems for over a century. But what about our homes? Millions of Americans have installed smoke alarms in their homes in the past few decades, but a smoke alarm can only alert the occupants to a fire in the house … it cannot contain or extinguish a fire. Residential sprinkler systems can,” said Day.
    The keynote speaker for both residential sprinkler seminars is Franz Hasse, the managing director of Kwench Systems International, a holding and marketing company for intellectual properties throughout the United States and overseas. Hasse holds three patents on technology based on combining potable water systems and fire sprinklers into a single unified multi-purpose system.
    The inventor has over 40 years of experience in the fire protection and plumbing industries and is experienced in all aspects of fire suppression systems including design, installation, fabrication and corporate management. He is recognized as an inventor, innovator and leader in the industry and has extensive experience in research, development and fire testing of ideas and products.
    Hasse has worked closely over the years with such organizations as Underwriters Laboratory and Factory Mutual Research. In 2001, he spent a week in Kemano, British Columbia performing extensive fire tests sponsored by the National Research Center of Canada and the provincial government of British Columbia testing products and systems, including his own.     Joining Hasse as a presenter for both the afternoon and evening seminar will be Eric Ellis, a fire protection engineer with the Maine Fire Marshal’s Office. Ellis will discuss code requirements, installation, and costs associated with the systems.
    Also participating in the sessions will be representatives from Maine Fire Protection, Eastern Sprinkler Co. and Fire Protection Services, all of which offer products and services in fire suppression in Aroostook County.  For more information on April 16 Safety Day activities at NMCC, including the two residential sprinkler seminars, contact the NMCC college relations office at 768-2808.