Minutes 02/09/1971 - Laserfiche WebLink

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February 9, 197]. owned buildings are also charged at the Fire Department. Extinguishers located in the Ports~ mouth Public Schools are maintained through their maintenance facilities. Although this operation was originally established primarily as a public service at a break-even financial consideration, it has produced results directly opposite from those envisioned. Even servicing only three basic types of extinguishers, many parts are not inter changeable from one extinguisher to another of differing manufacturer's models, and, therefor many parts have to be duplicated in stock to perform any semblance of effective service. Many times parts are not available at all. As these three types of extinguishers require hydrostatic testing every five years at pressures up to 375 pounds, containers are often ruptured when this test is applied. Since these tests are performed by Fire Department personnel, our Fire Department is severely criti cized when this happens. We are accused of damaging extinguishers and robbing citizens of protection afforded them through loss of an extinguisher or financial loss due to having to purchase another unit. Citizens do not like to be told that the type of fire extinguisher which they have has become obsolete, that parts are no longer available for them, and that they cannot be repaired. The soda ash, the soda acid and the foam extinguishers are fastly becoming obsolete. We have no facilities at all to recharge carbon dioxide extinguishers. Neither do we have facilities for repairing or testing of these extinguishers. Rxtinguishers of this type owned and operated b7 the City of Portsmouth are recharged, repaired and tested through the faci-: lities of private fire equipment service agencies. An agency of this type nearest to us is located in Norfolk. We estimate that facilities necessary for recharging, repairing and testing these carbon dioxide extinguishers would cost an estimated $25,000 plus an annual expenditure of $1,500 to $2,000 for materials and supplies. We would also incur cost in training personnel to perform this work. Those performing the duties would have to be certified and the procedures would have to comply with various federal and state regulations and codes applicable to comer pressed gas operation. Many fire equipment service agencies provide a mobile service for this type of unit. This is desirable, particularly for business and institutional establish- ments. To add this service, we are estimating that an additional $10,000 would be needed. We are phasing out carbon dioxide extinguishers for City use as rapidly as possible. A very basic type of extinguisher in wide use today is the dry chemical extinguisher. As in other types of extinguishers, there are many, many manufacturers of the dry chemical extinguisher with many models to choose from. These units are available using many different types of extinguishing agents and many different modes of operation. Some of these units use as their expellant power-compressed air, others require compressed nitrogen. Many requir. small compressed carbon dioxide cylinders, some even require compressed air or compressed nitrogen cartridges instead of free gases pumped into the extinguisher shell. Equipment for testing the many makes and models of this dry chemical extinguisher is necessarily varied We have many units of this type in service by the City of Portsmouth and we do recharge these units; however, we are able to control the above-mentioned problems through strict standardization of the units bought by the City. We have such units tested by a servicing agency. The expense and problems involved in attempting to service this type of unit for the general public is quite apparent. The types mentioned above are a very few of the many types of extinguishers in wide usage in our City as well as cities throughout the country. Because of the many complex problems involved in servicing fire extinguishers of so many makes, models and types, it is felt that a professional fire equipment servicing agency can perform this service to business establishments and citizens at a much lower cost and more efficiently than we would be able to do. These fire servicing agencies provide inspection and maintenance on a regular scheduled basis. They also assume~'respo~sibility for the mainten- ance of the units and maintenance of their service records. It is our feeling that most establishments having a requirement for extensive extinguish r service would continue to receive this service under contract arrangements with a professiona servicing unit. Were we to attempt to set up this type of service, it is highly possible that the volume of this work would be far insufficient to justify the cost of performing such a service. I recommend that our Fire Department continue servicing the three types of extinguishers that they now service as long as parts are available, but that we do not attempt to enter the business of operating a fire equipment servicing agency." ~F~. ':Irvine Smith made a motion to concur with!;the City Manager's report, and was adopted~ ~by t~ fO~iOwing vote: Ayes: Holley, Johnson, King, IrvinaSmith, Raymond Smith, Turner, Barnes Nays: None Mr. Irvine Smith related that he would look into the possibility of having a firm of Norfolk satisfy the needs of Portsmouth requests. 71-51 - "I submit the attached agreement between Rocramac Enterprises, Senior Citizens Village, Ltd.~ and t~he City of Portsmouth and recommend that the proper City officials be authorized to sign. This is an easement for the construction of a sewer line to service Senior Citizens Village across a water line easement of the Portsmouth Water Department. This easement is located on Sportsman's Road in Nansemond County. This has been approved by the City Attorney."