As part of my duties taking care of all the physical aspects of the Bnos Rabbeinu High School Dorm, I took safety and security very seriously. As someone who was also always interested in the latest technology, I also looked for products that would be best suited for such purposes.
To keep the dorm secure and yet allow easy entry for the students, I found an Israeli-made digital door pad, which I wired to the old door “buzzer” system. This allowed me to create a set of digital codes (one for students, and separate ones for cleaning staff, trades, etc that I could disable when they were no longer to have access.)
One concern I had due to the age of the building (about 90 years), was fire detection. Since the building was three floors and a basement, I worried that a small fire alarm in the basement could go unheard on the floors above. In researching this, I found that there was a new type of smoke detector that allowed for a series of units connected wirelessly such that any unit that was triggered would sound the alert on all units. In addition these added carbon monoxide detection — important in a building with gas-powered stoves, furnace, hot water tank and dryers.
I purchased these units and installed two per floor. I even ran some tests and a couple of “drills”. (In one case I took one of the detectors outside and held it near the tail pipe of my running van until it registered a CO alert!)
Some months later, while all the girls and the principal were in the basement practicing for their upcoming production, a night-time fire broke out on the 1st floor due to a short in some old lighting wiring. No one was there to see or smell it. Thankfully, the detectors did finally register and the alert was sounded throughout the building. At first suspecting a false alarm, someone ventured upstairs and quickly saw the flames and smoke — and thankfully everyone was able to evacuate safely. Unfortunately, the old building went up in flames very quickly and by the time the fire department arrived, all three floors were ablaze!
Realizing how invaluable these type of detectors were, I replaced the old wired smoke detectors in my home with these as well. At the same time, I found out that older detectors were really only reliable for about 10 years, even if they tested ok!
I decided that such information needed to be spread, especially in my religious circles. So I wrote an op-ed for a New York based web site, urging the adoption of such detectors in all schools and homes, and pushing for an organization to be established to help finance them for poorer families. I have no idea if such an organization was ever set up, but I did get a lot of feedback thanking me for educating people about this.
I found my old op-ed still online:
