firesprinkler.tv Fire sprinkler

The Washington offices of the NFL Players Association were damaged by a fire and the building’s sprinklers early this morning, a union official said.

The fire started around 5 a.m. in the office of DeMaurice F. Smith, the union’s executive director. Most of the damage that resulted was water damage done by the office’s sprinkler system, said George Atallah, the union’s assistant executive director of external affairs.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, although it’s possible that a candle in Smith’s office was to blame, and there was no immediate estimate about the cost of the damage. The offices, located on 20th St. NW, were not occupied at the time and there were no injuries.

Smith was returning to the D.C. area on a red-eye flight from San Francisco, where he was meeting with players as part of his tour of all NFL teams, at the time of the fire. He had not been in his office since the middle of last week.

Atallah said the union remains prepared to open labor negotiations with the NFL’s team owners Wednesday as scheduled.

“There’s no damage that we know of to anything essential to our business operations,” Atallah said.

Fire chiefs across the state are imploring Gov. Rick Perry to veto a bill that would ban cities from requiring fire sprinkler systems in new or existing homes.

But their advocacy has put them at odds with the Texas Association of Builders, which says the systems are overkill and can add thousands of dollars to a home’s price.

Senate Bill 1410, which passed the Texas Legislature in the waning days of the recently ended session, targets the growing ranks of cities nationwide that have mandated such systems to bolster fire safety and limit property damage.

A number of communities in North Texas, including Allen, Celina, Farmers Branch and Plano, have sprinkler requirements for all or some homes, particularly larger ones. Sprinklers are typically required for larger residential buildings, such as apartments.

The Senate bill, which awaits the governor’s signature, would prohibit municipalities from adopting any new sprinkler requirements for new or existing homes. The bill is retroactive to Jan. 1.

“The fire sprinkler prohibition … brings about a major shift in policy with respect to the public safety and home rule authority of local governments,” Plano Fire Chief Hugo Esparza said Monday at a news conference with representatives from more than 30 other departments, including Dallas and Fort Worth.

“This bill affects life safety. That’s why we’re so concerned about it,” said Joe Pierce, deputy chief of Dallas Fire-Rescue.

But the Texas Association of Builders, which lobbied for the ban, argues that homebuyers should be able to choose whether they want to install sprinklers.

The group also says that such systems are unnecessary in most cases since new homes must already adhere to strict fire codes, such as being equipped with multiple smoke alarms.

“Sprinklers work to put out the fires, but smoke alarms save lives,” said Scott Norman, executive director of the Texas Association of Builders, which represents about 11,000 members statewide. “We have nothing against sprinkler systems. But it should be the consumer’s choice.”

A spokeswoman for Perry said the governor has yet to act on the bill. He can choose to sign it, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature. The deadline for action is June 21.

To underscore his opposition to the sprinkler bill, Esparza made reference to the arson fire at the Texas Governor’s Mansion in Austin last June that nearly destroyed the 150-year-old structure.

The mansion, which was undergoing a renovation at the time of the blaze, was slated to have a sprinkler system installed. Working sprinklers could have saved the structure, Esparza said.

“For us, it’s a matter of public safety,” he said.

The original intent of the bill, sponsored by state Sen. Mike Jackson, R-Pasadena, was to overhaul plumbing licenses. The sprinkler prohibition was later added at the homebuilders’ behest.

For his part, Jackson said he agreed with the builders but empathizes with both sides.

“The argument on one side is that it saves lives. The argument of others is that it increases the price of a home,” he said. “The Legislature will be back in session in less than two years from now. Maybe we should [revisit the issue].”

One of two Boyd students facing felony charges for activating the school’s sprinklers now faces a whole new set of felonies for burglary and theft.

By Danny Gallagher, McKinney Courier-Gazette

A former McKinney Boyd High School student placed on deferred adjudication for activating a fire sprinkler now faces even more felony charges.

Kyle Alexander Johnson, 19, received an indictment on two second-degree felony charges of burglary of a habitation and a state jail felony charge of theft between $1,500 and $20,000, according to Collin County court records.

A Collin County grand jury approved the indictments last Tuesday. Outstanding warrants have been issued for his arrest, according to records filed in the 366th District Court.

Johnson is accused of committing the burglaries and thefts between April 12 and April 29, according to McKinney police records.

The first burglary occurred on April 12 in a home in the 100 block of Forest Lane. Two digital cameras, two laptop computers and two computer cooling pads were stolen from the home. The second occurred on April 29 in the 400 block of South Bend Street. The residences also reported the theft of two digital cameras and two laptop computers as well as some miscellaneous jewelry.

Johnson faces an additional theft charge for stealing a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado from a home in the 1400 block of West Wilson Creek Parkway, according to police records.

Johnson along with Tyler Glen Sherwood, 20, were accused of removing the brass cap of one or more of the pressurized overhead fire sprinklers at McKinney North, which flooded the school. Both received a state jail felony charge of causing a false alarm, according to court records.

Sherwood entered into his deferred adjudication agreement on May 20 in the 366th District Court. He received a year-long probated sentence, a $500 fine and an order to pay $837 in restitution to the McKinney ISD. The court also agreed to downgrade his charge from a state-jail felony to a Class A misdemeanor, according to court records.

Johnson entered into his deferred adjudication agreement back in October of 2008 and received a probated sentence of three years along with an order to pay $922 in restitution. Collin County Community Supervision officials reported a notice of violation less than a month after he entered into his agreement. The Collin County District Attorney’s Office filed a notice to revoke his probation last April and the court ordered a “commitment to jail” but allowed the probation sentence to continue.

Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com.

The calls have all been similar pranks: A frantic man urges hotel desk workers or guests to set off a fire sprinkler, sound an alarm or bust windows. It’s always the same: Do it now!

And, authorities said Thursday, they did. Eight cases have been reported in four states in recent days, and authorities say felony charges could be filed against whoever is making the calls.

In Alabama, a Marine roused from his sleep got “knocked silly” by a blast of water after being persuaded to set off the sprinkler in his room; there was no fire.

A motel in Arkansas sustained $50,000 in damage when a worker fell for a similar ruse.

A man was even convinced to drive his truck through a door of a hotel lobby in Nebraska, supposedly to turn off a fire alarm. And in California, a duped worker activated a sprinkler at the front desk, dousing computers, phones and other electrical equipment.

“It’s happening all over,” said Fire Marshal Ed Paulk of Alabama, where four hotels have been targeted by the calls since last week, resulting in thousands of dollars in damage. “We’re actively trying to track this and find out who is doing this.”

The general manager of a Comfort Suites in Daphne near the Alabama coast, Rupesh Desai, said a prank call about a fire alarm resulted in $10,000 in water damage last Friday.

Around the same time, he said, a caller convinced guests to bust windows at a sister hotel in Saraland, about 25 miles away, because of a natural gas leak that didn’t exist.

“In my hotel experience I’ve never heard of anything like this,” Desai said.

Trying to prevent more people from being fooled, trade groups are telling member companies and hotels to remind workers about basic emergency procedures like calling managers or security companies before doing anything drastic like setting off fire suppression sprinklers.

“No employees should be doing things like this without checking with someone,” said Namara Mercer, executive director of the San Diego County Hotel-Motel Association in San Diego, Calif.

Paulk said investigators suspect more than one person is behind the calls, and some could be inspired by Internet sites about phone pranks.

In York, Neb., Police Chief Don Klug said a man with a deep voice phoned a Hampton Inn around midnight on May 27 and scared a desk worker into pulling a fire alarm. During the confusion, the caller then convinced the worker the only way to silence the noise was to break lobby windows.

“A trucker was standing there, and he offered to help and drove his truck through the front door,” said Klug. The damage was estimated at $300, he said.

Desai, the Alabama hotel manager, said seven rooms were flooded when a caller got the sleeping Marine to set off the sprinkler in his room.

“He was knocked silly by the force of the water,” said Desai. “He was not a dummy, he just woke up in the middle of the night not realizing what was going on.”

Six other guests also got the calls but did nothing, he said.

A couple hours later in San Luis Obispo, Calif., a worker caused major damage by following a caller’s instructions to activate a sprinkler at the front desk of a Comfort Inn and Suites.

And in Conway, Ark., a caller convinced a worker at a Holiday Inn Express to set off an audible fire alarm and, with help from a guest, broke windows in an attempt to turn it off. She also was duped into turning on a sprinkler, flooding the lobby and causing major damage; about 150 guests were in the parking lot when police arrived.

A Holiday Inn Express in Little Rock, Ark., got a similar call around the same time, a police report said, but no one fell for the prank there.

The Alabama fire marshall said whoever’s making the calls could face jail time.

“It’s gotten to be the latest fad, but at some point someone is going to be caught,” he said.