The D.C. Fire Department recently placed AU on its list of “Areas of Concern” for fire safety in D.C., increasing the list from 34 to 40 areas.
Reasons for AU’s placement on the list included its high population density, limited access due to small roads and private fire hydrants on the campus, according to Pete Tiringer, spokesperson for D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services.
“There are quite a few schools and universities on the list,” he said.
The list was initiated in reaction to a fire that occurred in 2007, according to Tiringer.
“[D.C. Water and Sewage Authority] identified and started the list with low-pressure areas,” and since then, a technical committee has made additions to the list, he said.
All hydrants for AU are private, according to Michele Quander-Collins, spokesperson for WASA.
“WASA’s only activity related to [AU] was to make sure [the fire department can] read maps to identify nearby [high] flow public hydrants on the WASA/District water system,” Quander-Collins said in an e-mail.
Problems with elevation and geography were reasons why a fire at a home two blocks from AU grew out of control and gutted the house this summer, according to The Washington Post.
This situation occurred as a result of several factors, including a lack of sufficient knowledge about the locations of fire hydrants and water mains in the area. The firefighters searched for two hours during the fire for a sufficient water supply to subdue the blaze and had to stretch their hoses to a water source that was five blocks away, according to the Post.
Another problem in this fire was the high elevation of the neighborhood. AU’s neighborhood is one of the highest elevations in the city, according to the Post.
“In AU’s concern, in the Northwest corner of the city, we automatically send a water supply engine from the nearby station because of the high elevation of the area,” Tiringer said.
In addition, AU has protection in place such as fire alarms and sprinklers, which the house that burned down this summer did not.
“I can say with a lot of confidence that all of the things on the list have solutions in place,” Tiringer said.
-MEG FOWLER
