For Immediate Release
July 18, 2000
Contact: Mona M. Rock
410/706-3803, Pager: 410/909-5968
[email protected]
University of Maryland and Baltimore City Fire Department Collaborate to Reduce Vandalism
The University of Maryland and the Baltimore City Fire Department will showcase a new capping device designed to help deter vandalism on the University's outside sprinkler connections. City fire department officials and the University of Maryland fire marshal will unveil the caps on Wednesday, July 26 at 1pm outside the School of Nursing at 655 W. Lombard St.
Thirty-four buildings on the University of Maryland campus have sprinkler systems, standpipes, or both, with fire department connections outside each building. The connections allow the fire department to connect hose lines from a pumper truck to support the building fire protection systems in the case of a fire. These connections have caps, but they are frequently moved by vandals who then fill the connections with dirt, trash and rodents. Vandals also have taken the brass caps and sold them.
The University fire marshal, Robert Burke, contacted the Knox Company in Irvine, Ca., which created a cap that requires a special key to install and remove when needed by the fire department. This new effort will ensure that when there is a fire in one of the University's buildings, the city fire department will be able to access the proper connection.
Now that the program is established, any occupant in the city with standpipe or sprinkler systems can purchase the caps to protect the fire department connections.
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http://www.oea.umaryland.edu/news
The Baltimore campus of the University of Maryland is home to the dental school, graduate school, and schools of law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work. It is the founding campus of the University System of Maryland.
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