Click on the link and see the latest fire to hit historic downtown Bellefonte, PA, just outside State College.
After losing two 4-story historic buildings in spectacular blazes 18 months apart, then Fire Chief Tim Knisely formed the Bellefonte Fire Protection and Historical Preservation Task Force. We met several times, had an FPE come down from VT and do educational program for the town residents, presented a plan to address the problems, and presented our findings to Council. A week and a half later, a historic B&B burned. Our Task Force was disbanded, and most recently a jewelry store was allowed to open in direct violation of the PA Uniform Construction Code and Council said it was Okay. Their attorney noted this was likely an illegal act by Council. So, here's the Cadillac Building, so named since it used to be a dealership. Fire started in 3rd floor apt, burned down to the concrete floor, burned the roof off. The local representative whose office sustained water damage now knows that fire trucks discharge a LOT of water in comparison to sprinkler systems..don't know if town council got the message yet. Maybe it will take more than the injuries sustained, and maybe it will take multiple deaths- and in the meantime, building after building burns down. Tim stepped down as chief, but thru his day job as Sr Residential Inspector at Centre Region Code in State College- a VERY Pro-Sprinkler town housing the 40,000 students at Penn State- he and John Waters co-chaired the PA Residential Sprinkler Coalition that helped push the IRC mandate past the builders in PA. Here is a youtube link....Next to the building, the fire didn't look that big through the roof... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFB91Z4kuFY _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
