RICHMOND, Va. -- As multiple fire alarm panels in Richmond Public Schools (RPS) have still not been updated with correct phone numbers following a disastrous fire at William Fox Elementary School, the CBS 6 Problem Solvers have learned fire watches are monitoring several schools across the district.
Essentially, a fire watch is someone professionally trained who provides surveillance of buildings and looks out for any signs of fire. The measure can be ordered by a local Fire Marshal if there's a violation of the statewide fire prevention code.
RPS spokesperson Matthew Stanley said the fire watches have been required "per code" due to the missing 804 area code on the alarm panels.
This comes after the alarm panel at Fox Elementary was never reprogrammed when Verizon required the area code be included in all local calls beginning October 2021. Because of this, when a smoke detector went off at Fox on February 11 before the building became engulfed in flames, the alarm company, Jonhson Controls, never got a message.
Saturday evening, Richmond firefighters responded to Ginter Park Elementary School for a fire alarm notification.
Within 15, an RPS personnel arrived to give first responders access to the building. Once inside, they were greeted by security and a fire watch employee who was in the office, according to Stanley.
"The system in the building had no alarms and did not activate the horns or strobe lights," Stanley said. "The system in the building did not activate, however, an undetermined signal was sent to the monitoring company."
Stanley said all schools should have fire zone maps in panel boxes which are used to help firefighters quickly locate emergencies, but a security employee was not able to find a zone map for Ginter Park Saturday night.
Stanley said RPS is auditing.
The CBS 6 Problem Solvers asked if there was a zone map for Fox Elementary School readily available to firefighters on February 11. The Richmond Fire Department initially said the panel that night indicated "zone 32," but firefighters did not know what "zone 32" meant. This story will be updated once we receive a response.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
