2011 Fire Emergency Preparedness

Responses to questions are presented in the same order as they appeared in the questionnaire.

Question 1A
Not surprisingly, all 22 responding organizations DO have a fire emergency system in place.

Question 1B
There appears to be a variety of fire emergency systems employed as shown below and distributed as follows:

4 responders use Simplex, a division of Emergency Communications Systems, Boca Raton, FL;
4 use Edwards Systems Technology, Cheshire, CT;
3 use ADT Securities, a division of Tyco International;
2 use Notifier, a division of Honeywell;
5 use other lesser-known systems (1 each);
4 did not know or did not specify their systems.

We did not inquire of the merits of each system in our questionnaire.

Question 1C
The frequency of inspection of each system varies widely as shown below:

No. of Responders / Frequency of Inspection
8 Annually
6 Five+ years
3 Biennially
1 Quarterly
4 Not specified

The frequency appears to be arbitrary with no obvious correlation with the equipment being used.

Question 1D
The emergency board is most frequently located in the main entrance lobby – 7 responses or in the main entrance as well as in the Health Center area – 8 responses. The other responses include the Security Office – 2; the main Electrical Room – 2; or was not specified by the responders – 3.

Question 1E
The overwhelming number — 17 emergency boards identified the specific apartment where the fire-emergency exists; 5 identified only an area of the building. It appears that all of the more frequently used equipment systems identify the specific apartment where the emergency is occurring.

Question 2A
This was a complex question and, unfortunately, no effort was made to define who was in control in a real fire emergency. From the various responses, two management systems appear to be most commonly used. These were a combination of local management and outside contractors in 7 responses; and a combination of local Fire Department, local management and outside contractors in 5 responses. Four responders indicated that only local management was involved, 2 indicated only outside contractors and 2 identified local Fire Department, local management and residents as being jointly responsible. Our conclusion is that residents were involved to a lesser extent than anticipated since residents and local management were not identified as being responsible by any responders. As a result, there was no response to Question 2B.

Question 3
The number of fire drills held and the level of evacuation that occurs varies widely from CCRC to CCRC. Sixteen of the responders do not have complete evacuations and 6 have only one during the year. On the other hand, 9 responders have one fire drill without evacuation each month, 4 have one or less than one drill per year without evacuation and the balance of responses fall somewhere between 1 and 6 drills per year. Half of responders had no partial fire drills per year, 5 reported 1, 3 reported 2 and 3 reported 4-12 per year.

Question 4
The small degree of resident involvement noted in Question 2 resulted also in limited use of resident fire captains. The 4 CCRCs who have fire captains (Crestwood Manor, The Evergreens, The Pines at Whiting and Stonebridge) use them to provide information to residents as to the nature and location of the emergency. Only the Evergreens provided affirmative responses to Questions 4A through 4E, while the others responded affirmatively to all questions except Questions 4D. Obviously, residents are not expected to assist less able-bodied residents to descend stairways.

Questions 5A, 5B and 5C
Because of the large number of issues raised in Question 5, results from Questions 5A, 5B and 5C will be discussed separately.

Of the 22 responses, 11 have alarm systems in hallways only, 9 have alarms in both hallways and apartments, and 2 have alarms in apartments only.

Of the 11 alarm systems in hallways only, 4 responses indicated sound only systems and 7 indicated a sound/strobe light system.

Of the 9 alarm systems in both hallways and apartment, 7 indicated sound/strobe light systems in both locations.

In 2 cases, sound systems were installed in hallways but supplementary strobe lights were supplied in apartments on an as-needed basis. Unless strobe lights can be supplied at little or no extra cost, it would seem a waste of money to pay for strobe lights in hallways!!

Responses to Question 5C regarding the effectiveness of the systems in alerting hearing-impaired residents, results were mixed. In those CCRCs with sound/strobe lights systems in hallways only, 2 responders said hearing-impaired residents did not respond because they were unable to hear, 4 said residents were not alerted and 5 were not sure.

When the combined systems were installed in both hallways and apartments, 6 responders reported that hearing-impaired residents were alerted, 1 said they were not alerted and 5 were not sure.

Regardless of the system used, many responders reported that the severity of the hearing impairment and the location of the strobe lights in the apartments determined the effectiveness of the alarm system.

Question 5D
Of the 11 CCRCs who reported that residents did not respond to the alarm system, 8 used management staff and/or local fire officials to alert those who did not respond and 3 were alerted by resident fire captains.

Question 5E
All 22 of the responders indicated that their fire emergency system was hard wired. One respondent said they could not, at this time, recommend a wireless system. This suggests that at least 1 CCRC had considered the use of a wireless system.

Question 5F
Fourteen respondents said that they were aware of fire alarm systems that are effective in alerting hearing-impaired residents. Fourteen of these indicated the effectiveness of strobe lights. One suggested an awareness of pillow and/or bed vibrators though there was no indication of their having had first-hand experience with them.

Question 6
The question of breaching fire doors during evacuations received 4 “YES” votes, 12 “NO” votes and 5 “Qualified YES” votes, depending upon whether or not the fire had blocked a previously designated exit.