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Vandalism at Citrus High prompts officials to ask whether schools should have sprinklers and fire alarms linked to a fire department.
By BARBARA BEHRENDT
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 21, 2000
INVERNESS -- When Citrus High School burned to the ground in 1985, there was an immediate call for new fire safety devices in the district's schools so the district would never again have to face such a tragedy.
The School Board clamored for sprinkler systems and discussed the need to hook all school fire alarms to the nearest fire department so emergency response times could be drastically cut.
When a vandal or vandals set fire to a Citrus High classroom one night last week, some in the community were surprised to find out that sprinklers weren't incorporated into the new portions of the school built since 1985. Even principal Gary Foltz said he was surprised that the school's fire alarm didn't connect directly with the county's fire department.
In fact, only two of the district's schools have complete sprinkler systems. Other schools have sprinklers in specific areas, such as kitchens and stages, said Ed Murphy, the risk manager for the district.
Murphy said he does not recall any school hooking its fire alarms directly to fire departments. Bill Humbaugh, executive director of support services, said that he had heard that several schools had tried an automatic hookup in the past, but eventually abandoned it because of problems with the system, such as false alarms.
The investigation into last week's fire is continuing, and officials have talked to a number of people. Officials from the state fire marshal's office could not be reached for comment Monday. The Florida Advisory Council on Arson Prevention is offering a $2,500 reward for information in the case.
Students who would normally be in the math classroom gutted by the Thursday night fire are being taught using other available spaces, school officials have said.
Foltz said he believed that Citrus High should look into an automatic connection to the fire department. If computer teacher Edward Kilpatrick hadn't been working late in his computer lab Thursday night and heard the incendiary devices being thrown through a glass window, the fire alarm might have gone unheard.
That has an eerie familiarity for school officials and community members who were in Inverness in February 1985 when a blaze started in a hallway near the Citrus High administrative offices.
Officials determined that the fire burned for some time, sweeping through the structure and blowing out windows before a passer-by noticed the flames.
By then, much of the school was already too far gone to save.
School Board members at the time voted to add sprinklers to the elementary school they were building in Citrus Springs. But a month later, they rescinded the vote, citing problems with sprinkler systems that they had just learned about. Murphy said he remembers the aftermath of the 1985 Citrus High fire and the discussion about better fire safety systems. But he said that fire was a unique case.
The former Citrus High was 50 years old and built entirely of wood. The new building is brick and concrete. Last week's fire had largely burned through all the available fuel in the classroom and did not have the potential to spread like the fire 15 years ago, Murphy said.
Humbaugh noted that the schools in the district all meet applicable fire codes and that the district has been working to upgrade fire alarm systems. Regular fire drills are also conducted in the schools.
The elementary school under construction on Forest Ridge Boulevard will have a fire sprinkler system but that is because it is more cost-effective than other fire-control features that would have had to be built into the school, officials said.
Pleasant Grove Elementary, built several years after the 1985 fire, also has a sprinkler system, Murphy said.
Murphy also spoke of a recent case in which a Florida school with a sprinkler system was hit by an arsonist. Only one room was burned, but the school suffered $100,000 in damage from the sprinklers soaking many other rooms.
Last week's fire at Citrus High caused an estimated $8,000 to $10,000 in damage.
"That's the other side of it," Murphy said. "Even if you put them in, you run the risk of more damage."
He added that even insurance companies recognize that sprinklers might cause damage to schools. Schools with sprinklers do not get a break in their insurance premium, he said.