Nothing personal: Fire inspector says prom decorations violated state codes

April 24--GRAHAM -- Last Friday was prom night at River Mill Academy, but the gym did not look like everyone expected because some of the decorations violated the fire code.

Several parents contacted the Times-News to say they did not think changing them was necessary. One even called it a personal grudge against the school.

"It's definitely not a personal thing," Graham Fire Inspector Beau Russell said. "It's nothing I'm making up; it's just the fire code."

The theme of the dance was the Arabian Nights, and the charter school decorated its basketball court with canopies draped in fabric, and hung a long curtain going around the basketball court to block the view of the bleachers. Principal Jeff Dishmon said they were the same type of decorations the school uses for every prom. They also took a lot of time and effort to put up.

"We had students and parents spend 60-plus hours preparing for our prom," Dishmon said.

The curtain and fabric wrapped around the canopies was not fire retardant, Russell said, which is a violation of the state fire code. The four canopies were made of fire retardant material and could stay.

Russell said he conducts unannounced inspections of every school twice a year. River Mill's inspection was due this month, he said, and he conducted it April 16, not knowing it was the day before the prom.

Dishmon said he got the email after he left school Thursday afternoon, and tried to find a compromise with Russell. Russell said there is not much room for compromise in the state fire code.

"Basically, when you're talking about one or 75 kids within this non-fire-retardant curtain, you're asking for trouble," Russell said. "Anything that would jeopardize a student's life or is unsafe, it's my job to call attention to it and have it corrected."

A RIVER MILL parent who is a firefighter offered to provide a "fire watch" during the dance. Russell said having a firefighter and truck in place on the scene is generally done when other safety equipment, like an alarm or sprinkler system, is not working.

"This situation is different; we know we have a fire-code violation, and we're allowing it," Russell said. "To me, that is not the purpose of the fire watch."

Another River Mill parent, Dishmon said, who works at fire extinguisher company Walter Kidde, arranged to have the company donate a fire retardant spray called Flame Stop I and ship it to the school. Russell told Dishmon he would need to hire a professional to apply it.

Dishmon learned Friday that the fire code does not require that a professional apply the retardant, but it was too late to get it shipped.

Kerry Hall, public information officer with the N.C. Department of Insurance, said the code does not require a professional to apply Fire Stop I, but it is not easy to apply it correctly.

"If you look at the instructions for that fire retardant -- it's complicated," Hall said.

Russell said the curtain, about 9 feet high and 70 feet long, was too big, and time was too short, for him to feel comfortable taking the chance. He knows people at the school are unhappy with him about the decision, but it would be a lot worse if he had let it go and something had happened.

THIS IS NOT the only time Dishmon has felt the city was inflexible with the school. The growing school added some classrooms this school year.

"It was the same thing -- 'It's this way or no way,'" Dishmon said. "We're trying to be good for this community and don't feel like we're getting support from our city."

James Lloyd, chief code enforcement officer with Graham'sInspections Department, said he does not see it that way. Lloyd said he put in late hours to get the inspections done at the school before school started. He did, however, direct the school to make changes to the addition when he found out the two new classrooms were over-capacity. The school had to tear down a hall between the classrooms and replace it with a wall to make the classrooms a little larger.

In that case, Lloyd said, parents were complaining to him about overcrowding.

"The state codes are minimum codes -- we are not asking for anything above or beyond that," Lloyd said. "Unfortunately, a lot of time people don't understand that. ... At the end of the day, when safety is involved, we have no choice but to look like the bad guy, I guess."

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