Report: Some school emergency systems not working

Thursday, Aug. 27, 1998 | 11:08 a.m.

Some burglar and fire alarm systems are still not fully functional, even though the buildings are now in use, KTNV-TV reported Wednesday night.

"It could be that the fire alarm system hasn't really been checked out or is not working, or the center monitor system is not connected at police headquarters," said David Broxterman, who heads the district's facilities division.

"They're continually monitoring for any sign of fire that could occur anywhere," Broxterman said. "Then (they would) report to the proper authority so that proper action would be taken to get the fire department there."

Until those systems are working properly, the Clark County Fire Department is requiring the district to post "fire-watch" guards at every affected school.

School district officials say fire suppression systems, such as sprinklers, are working and would turn on automatically when needed.

Internal alarms would then sound, prompting evacuation.

But since the systems aren't connected to a central site, no response would come until someone at the school notified the fire department by phone.

At night, the school district has employed security guards to protect the buildings until alarms are operational.

District officials hope to have the fire and burglar alarm systems on line at all of the new schools in the next few days.