FREDERICKTOWN — For the first time, the Fredericktown Community Fire District has completed school fire inspections in the six Amish schools within its fire district. According to Chief Scott Mast, the inspections were completed last week.
The department located the six schools earlier this year with the help of members of the Amish community, who have been receptive to the fire prevention information shared with them by firefighters.
An Amish school official accompanied Mast on the inspection of two schools in Pike Township. School board member Robert Yoder accompanied Mast on the inspections of four schools in Middlebury Township.
Yoder, who said prior to the inspections that the Amish schools did not follow some of the same guidelines as non-Amish schools, agreed to put smoke detectors in the schools. Mast said he also asked Yoder that fire extinguishers be accessible on each floor of the schools.
“Every school did have at least one extinguisher,” Mast said. “I advised them about fire extinguisher inspections, and the placement of the fire extinguishers.”
Mast also explained the guidelines for fire drills, safety drills and tornado drills, which are to be conducted throughout the school year.
The schools are all of fairly new construction, according to Mast, and he said he feels they are safe.
Because the inspection guidelines had not been provided to the schools beforehand, Mast said he was pleased with the accessibility of emergency exits to the students.
“It was nice to have the opportunity to become familiar with the construction and layout of their schools with information that will be implemented into our preplanning program,” Mast said. “It will be relayed to firemen in the event of an emergency so that they can operate in the most efficient, safe manner possible.”
Mast said the details he went over with school personnel are minor and easily correctable. Because the schools buildings are not marked in any way, even with a street number, they can be difficult to locate in an emergency.
“A lack of building addresses was noted and is in the process of being corrected to help us more readily identify their locations in a timely manner,” said Mast.
Because the Amish do not use electricity or telephones in the schools, the schools are granted variances regarding the Ohio Fire Code when they are built. This allows for cultural adaptations in the areas of lack of emergency lighting and fire alarms.
“We utilized the checklist provided by the state fire marshal as a reference,” Mast said, referring to guidelines inspectors from the Division of State Fire Marshal prepared for Amish school inspections.
Mast said Fredericktown firefighters hope to become more involved in the Amish communities which they protect throughout Pike and Middlebury townships.
“I was pleased with the cooperation that the Amish representatives showed our department,” Mast said, “and look forward to continuing opportunities to work closely with them on future inspections and fire prevention programs.”
