A colleague of mine sent me the following information regarding college credits that are going to be offered for training in the fire sprinkler business.    The great part is, you can take these classes at you’re home computer.  If you’re interested let them know.

Subject: Fire Sprinkler Academy

Could you send this on to EVERYONE you know that might be interested? We already have people from six states and the country of Portugal participating!

With much thanks,

Cecil Bilbo
Academy of Fire Sprinkler Technology, Inc.
OUR STUDENTS SAVE LIVES!

We are pleased to bring you a chance to earn COLLEGE CREDIT for online classes offered by the Academy and Parkland College. Please see the announcement below for more information. If you have any questions, send an email to info[at]sprinkleracademy[dot]com,  or visit www.sprinkleracademy.com

Fire Sprinkler Academy – College Credit classes ONLINE
Receive college credit towards the Sprinkler System Technology Degree on Tuesday and Thursday Evenings

Price: $250 per credit hour
Date: Begins Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Time: 6:00pm – 8:30pm
Location: From your computer and phone
Phone: 217.649.0344
Email: info[at]sprinkleracademy[dot]com

Description
Earn College Credit on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6-8:30pm beginning AUG 25, 2009. Six hours of credit will be available through live online classes during the 2009 fall semester.
Register at www.sprinkleracademy.com

SST 001 Basic Hydraulics – Step-by-Step Fridays 1-3pm Central
Live Online Training in Sprinkler System Hydraulics (5 week class)

Price: $500 per student (ask about single site/multi-user discount)
Date: Begins Friday, September 11, 2009
Time: 1:00pm – 3:00pm
Location: Online with your computer and phone
Street: www.sprinkleracademy.com

Phone: 217-649-0344
Email: info[at]sprinkleracademy[dot]com

Description
Five Week class to learn all of the fundamentals of hydraulic calculations for fire sprinkler systems. This class will meet five times on Friday afternoons from 11 SEP to 09 OCT 2009. Everyone welcome.

Register at www.sprinkleracademy.com.

Here’s a great article from Coloradoan.com regarding campus fire saftey at college.  If you’re sending your kids off to school it’s something to think about for sure.

I haven’t been at it in a while but this article surprised me.  First, the author actually knows what s(he) is talking about.  Good and informative I thought.  Note the comments.  I didn’t want to have to register to respond but if you feel so inclined please do so.  Halon?  Are you serious? [greenvillonline.com]

While Highland Park, Texas is moving forward with fire sprinkler requirements in new homes, South Carolina is having trouble passing sprinkler mandates.

This article from The Post and Courier; Charleston.net explains that There are two separate bills being proposed. A House bill is being proposed that will provide tax incentive of 80% of the cost of the sprinkler system up to $50,000.00. The Senate is proposing a bill that will provide 50% of the cost of the sprinkler system; 25% from the state the other 25% from local property tax relief. The States portion would only be made available if the local governments offered a property tax credit.

Obviously there are proponents and opponents to this system. One opponent, Governor Mark Sanford, argues that;

‘Although the property-owners who install fire sprinklers under this legislation will be the primary beneficiaries of increased fire safety, the taxpayers will shoulder nearly all of the costs.’”

I’m not a tax expert and don’t claim to know the ins and outs of our tax system. Having said that, it makes sense to me that the “taxpayers” would shoulder some burden for business getting tax breaks because it’s money not going into the system to pay for infrastructure. On the other hand, the sprinkler systems, once they’re installed and working, will save citizens hundreds of thousands of dollars if a fire ever breaks out in one of the formerly unsprinklered buildings. So yeah, it definitely is an investment but the investment will pay itself back 10 fold if even one fire breaks out.

The Town Council in Highland Park, Texas voted unanimously to require fire sprinklers in homes. The article from the Dallas Morning News reports that,

Sprinklers will be required in all new homes and in renovations that add 50 percent or more to a home’s square footage.”

The requirement will take effect October 1, 2008.

City officials in Grapevine, Texas are being recognized for their proactive approach in protecting historic buildings with fire sprinklers in their downtown district.  According to the article the city set up low interest loans to offset the cost of installation of the systems and connections to city mains.  [star-telegram.com; Fortworth, Texas]

An article by Dawn Blunt in the Metrowest Newspaper Online Edition out of Brighton, Colorado compares the costs of the war in Iraq with the annual cost of fires in the United States. Dawn, the public safety educator for the Greater Brighton Fire Protection District, does a great job of comparing the very real and publicized costs of the war in Iraq against the very real and not-so-publicized cost of fire.

Try not to pick apart the politics and concentrate mostly on the point of the article. A few snippets;

Fires cost lives and huge sums of money for our country every day. Just because you don’t hear about all the costly fires and the deaths on the evening news doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Fire is costing Americans more each year than what Saudi Arabia makes on oil.

Between the start of the Iraq war and Dec. 10, 2007, America spent $150 billion per year on the war. The cost of the war on a family of four is estimated to be about $20,900 from 2002 to 2008. The estimated cost of fire is $22,720 for that same family of four for six years. The number of soldiers killed in Iraq is now about 3,886, which is roughly the same number of fire deaths in America every year.

Enjoy!

A (some) Sprinkler(s) saved a Wal*Mart in Kannapolis North Carolina. More on the story from WSOCTV (video Included).

The masthead is a load of crap. This site is not under new management but it should be. I will get back to posting regularly.