Martin F. Abernathy
Nitterhouse Concrete Products: Shoddy Construction?
Wed Feb 9, 2005 21:29
216.19.125.4
LANCASTER NEW ERA (LANCASTER, PA.)
February 12, 2002, Tuesday
SECTION: NEWS, Pg. A-1
LENGTH: 1317 words
HEADLINE: 'Fire hazards' found inside McCaskey East; Hidden, gaping holes are among stunning and dangerous new discoveries at city school. Officials infuriated.
BYLINE: Susan Baldrige; Janet Kelley
A beautiful high school or a house of horrors?
Dangerous new problems are being uncovered at McCaskey East, including fire hazards and safety hazards that were not known until now.
Not only was McCaskey East built with such shoddy construction it had to be shut down last June, school officials now are saying crews called in to begin repairing the school have found:
'A widespread lack of fire-stopping materials that were called for in the plans and the building code.
'Hundreds of fluorescent lighting fixtures not adequately attached to the ceiling, as was required by the building code.
'Water fountains that weren't electrically grounded so a fault with the wiring could have electrified the metal parts of the fountain with hundreds of volts of power.
"This is a major finding," said School District of Lancaster board member Dan Desmond. "The stack of outrage has just gotten higher."
Desmond said the forensic engineers brought in to find the holes and cracks in the concrete walls and ceilings came to him several weeks ago after noticing a nearly complete lack of fire-stopping materials.
Materials such as fireproof barriers in walls and fireproof caulking and fireproof insulation that were supposed to wrap around pipes, sprinklers, ducts and wires to keep any fire from spreading -- almost all are missing.
"There are big gaping holes in the walls that should have at the very least been boarded shut," said Desmond. "But they're open between the partitions. Hot gases and flames from a fire could have quickly spread to other parts of the building."
Maryann Marotta is the architect recently hired by the district to map the lack of fire-stopping materials so those areas can be repaired.
"I would say at least 80 percent of the areas are missing the fire-stopping materials," said Marotta. "But it might get closer to 90 percent when the job is done. When we walked through, not all the ceilings were down yet.
Desmond said he doesn't understand how city inspectors at the time, 1995 to 1996, could have missed such serious problems.
Lt. Tom Arnold, a fire marshal with the city fire department, said his office reviews plans and inspects construction projects, together with building inspectors from the city and state Department of Labor and Industry.
The city fire marshal who would have been assigned to the McCaskey East project, Arnold said, was Randy Zimmerman.
He has since retired and was unavailable for comment today.
Typically, Arnold explained, inspectors review the architectural design of each project, looking to make sure all the safety requirements are being met.
"We try to look at every detail of every plan," Arnold said, everything from sprinklers to the number of exit doors, before the construction starts.
Then, after the plan has been approved and construction begins, Arnold said, the fire and building inspectors, "periodically go out and look at the project."
Realistically, Arnold said, the fire department does not have the personnel to be able to monitor construction projects every day, every step of the way.
While some fire safety concerns are easily inspected -- sprinklers, smoke detectors, number of exit doors -- the behind-the-scenes problems may not be so visible, Arnold said.
"If the drywall is finished, the drop-ceiling is up, it's over, it's done," Arnold said, except for getting a ladder and making possible spot checks by lifting up the tiles and looking around.
And while inspectors often do just that, Arnold said, it's easier to understand how such problems could be missed.
The attorney for the school district in the McCaskey East matter is Howard Kelin of Kegel, Kelin, Almy & Grimm.
Kelin agreed the lack of fire-stopping materials is a "systemic problem, not an occasional missed opening."
Kelin said Sunday he notified four contractors -- the HVAC and plumbing contractor, the electrical contractor, fire sprinkler contractor and the construction manager -- of the fire hazard situation at the building.
"I've asked them to contact me immediately," said Kelin. "It has not yet been determined the extent to which each of the contractors may be responsible."
The school district has already filed a lawsuit for the construction problems against Gilbert Architects, Wohlsen Construction Co., Zug and Greenebaum engineers, Cost Co., Nitterhouse Concrete Products, Adams-Bikel Assoc. and Boring Soils & Testing Labs Inc.
Once the ceiling tiles had been taken down and the holes and lack of fire-stopping materials were discovered, officials and repair crews noticed the fluorescent lights had not been secured.
"The (city building) code requires a tie-rod securing the ceiling grid to the structure at every four feet on center, and each corner of each light fixture is to be attached through the slab," explained Marotta.
"The reason you have a separate wire actually supporting the light itself is, say that something happened to the ceiling grid, it wouldn't pull the heavy light fixtures with it," Marotta said. "But the fasteners aren't where they should be and the lights are just laying on the grid.
"If you had a fire in the building, the grid could melt easily and drop down," said Marotta. "Then the heavy weight of the fixtures could fall down. Think of firefighters inside the building, you want to limit things falling on them."
Marotta said if the ceiling got wet because a pipe broke, the grid and the light fixtures could fall on people below.
Marotta also said the city building code requiring the separate light and grid supports was in place even before McCaskey East was built.
William J. Burke, senior bureau chief of housing and structural inspection for the city, said that he, like Arnold, was not involved in the McCaskey East construction.
"I have yet to make a footprint out there," Burke said, although his office was overseeing the project in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
Burke explained the danger of the fluorescent lighting problem, saying there are prescribed methods of installing the lights because they are so heavy.
"That's dangerous," he said. "If the ceiling falls during a fire," it could come down and hurt a firefighter on someone trying to escape.
"I wasn't the inspector on site," Burke said, adding that he cannot explain why some problems were not spotted.
And, as if all the problems found at McCaskey East weren't enough, Monday, repair workers discovered that some wiring going to water fountains had no ground wire.
A ground wire is required to divert electricity away from an appliance in case there is an electrical short or fault in the system.
"Had there been a fault in the wiring, the metal parts of the fountain could have been electrically live," said Desmond. "Not to ground a drinking fountain, it's terribly dangerous and irresponsible. There's enough electricity in the high voltage line to... I don't want to think about what could have happened."
All the problems were described by Desmond as health and safety issues.
"The Swiss cheese nature of the construction, with the holes where the fire-stopping materials should have been, would have acted like a chimney spreading fire up and throughout the school," he said.
"There are 15 lights times how many rooms?" Desmond asked. "They were resting on the flimsy grid instead of being attached."
"This is the last thing we wanted right now," Desmond said, although he said he was still confident the district could reopen at least part of the school in the fall, after all the concerns had been cleared up.
"All I can say is thank God we spotted these defects before anyone was killed or injured," Desmond said. "I do not get the impression this was built as a place children would spend their days."
GRAPHIC: COLOR PHOTO; PHOTO, Richard Hertzler, (1) Dan Desmond, school board member, climbs above where the drop ceiling hung to look through a hole in a wall. probably left for a vent that was never installed. In the event of a fire, the hole would have allowed fire and smoke to spread. (2) Space around the pipes (pictured at left) should have been sealed to prevent fire and smoke from passing through in the event of a fire, officials say.
February 12, 2002, Tuesday
SECTION: NEWS, Pg. A-1
LENGTH: 1317 words
HEADLINE: 'Fire hazards' found inside McCaskey East; Hidden, gaping holes are among stunning and dangerous new discoveries at city school. Officials infuriated.
BYLINE: Susan Baldrige; Janet Kelley
A beautiful high school or a house of horrors?
Dangerous new problems are being uncovered at McCaskey East, including fire hazards and safety hazards that were not known until now.
Not only was McCaskey East built with such shoddy construction it had to be shut down last June, school officials now are saying crews called in to begin repairing the school have found:
'A widespread lack of fire-stopping materials that were called for in the plans and the building code.
'Hundreds of fluorescent lighting fixtures not adequately attached to the ceiling, as was required by the building code.
'Water fountains that weren't electrically grounded so a fault with the wiring could have electrified the metal parts of the fountain with hundreds of volts of power.
"This is a major finding," said School District of Lancaster board member Dan Desmond. "The stack of outrage has just gotten higher."
Desmond said the forensic engineers brought in to find the holes and cracks in the concrete walls and ceilings came to him several weeks ago after noticing a nearly complete lack of fire-stopping materials.
Materials such as fireproof barriers in walls and fireproof caulking and fireproof insulation that were supposed to wrap around pipes, sprinklers, ducts and wires to keep any fire from spreading -- almost all are missing.
"There are big gaping holes in the walls that should have at the very least been boarded shut," said Desmond. "But they're open between the partitions. Hot gases and flames from a fire could have quickly spread to other parts of the building."
Maryann Marotta is the architect recently hired by the district to map the lack of fire-stopping materials so those areas can be repaired.
"I would say at least 80 percent of the areas are missing the fire-stopping materials," said Marotta. "But it might get closer to 90 percent when the job is done. When we walked through, not all the ceilings were down yet.
Desmond said he doesn't understand how city inspectors at the time, 1995 to 1996, could have missed such serious problems.
Lt. Tom Arnold, a fire marshal with the city fire department, said his office reviews plans and inspects construction projects, together with building inspectors from the city and state Department of Labor and Industry.
The city fire marshal who would have been assigned to the McCaskey East project, Arnold said, was Randy Zimmerman.
He has since retired and was unavailable for comment today.
Typically, Arnold explained, inspectors review the architectural design of each project, looking to make sure all the safety requirements are being met.
"We try to look at every detail of every plan," Arnold said, everything from sprinklers to the number of exit doors, before the construction starts.
Then, after the plan has been approved and construction begins, Arnold said, the fire and building inspectors, "periodically go out and look at the project."
Realistically, Arnold said, the fire department does not have the personnel to be able to monitor construction projects every day, every step of the way.
While some fire safety concerns are easily inspected -- sprinklers, smoke detectors, number of exit doors -- the behind-the-scenes problems may not be so visible, Arnold said.
"If the drywall is finished, the drop-ceiling is up, it's over, it's done," Arnold said, except for getting a ladder and making possible spot checks by lifting up the tiles and looking around.
And while inspectors often do just that, Arnold said, it's easier to understand how such problems could be missed.
The attorney for the school district in the McCaskey East matter is Howard Kelin of Kegel, Kelin, Almy & Grimm.
Kelin agreed the lack of fire-stopping materials is a "systemic problem, not an occasional missed opening."
Kelin said Sunday he notified four contractors -- the HVAC and plumbing contractor, the electrical contractor, fire sprinkler contractor and the construction manager -- of the fire hazard situation at the building.
"I've asked them to contact me immediately," said Kelin. "It has not yet been determined the extent to which each of the contractors may be responsible."
The school district has already filed a lawsuit for the construction problems against Gilbert Architects, Wohlsen Construction Co., Zug and Greenebaum engineers, Cost Co., Nitterhouse Concrete Products, Adams-Bikel Assoc. and Boring Soils & Testing Labs Inc.
Once the ceiling tiles had been taken down and the holes and lack of fire-stopping materials were discovered, officials and repair crews noticed the fluorescent lights had not been secured.
"The (city building) code requires a tie-rod securing the ceiling grid to the structure at every four feet on center, and each corner of each light fixture is to be attached through the slab," explained Marotta.
"The reason you have a separate wire actually supporting the light itself is, say that something happened to the ceiling grid, it wouldn't pull the heavy light fixtures with it," Marotta said. "But the fasteners aren't where they should be and the lights are just laying on the grid.
"If you had a fire in the building, the grid could melt easily and drop down," said Marotta. "Then the heavy weight of the fixtures could fall down. Think of firefighters inside the building, you want to limit things falling on them."
Marotta said if the ceiling got wet because a pipe broke, the grid and the light fixtures could fall on people below.
Marotta also said the city building code requiring the separate light and grid supports was in place even before McCaskey East was built.
William J. Burke, senior bureau chief of housing and structural inspection for the city, said that he, like Arnold, was not involved in the McCaskey East construction.
"I have yet to make a footprint out there," Burke said, although his office was overseeing the project in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
Burke explained the danger of the fluorescent lighting problem, saying there are prescribed methods of installing the lights because they are so heavy.
"That's dangerous," he said. "If the ceiling falls during a fire," it could come down and hurt a firefighter on someone trying to escape.
"I wasn't the inspector on site," Burke said, adding that he cannot explain why some problems were not spotted.
And, as if all the problems found at McCaskey East weren't enough, Monday, repair workers discovered that some wiring going to water fountains had no ground wire.
A ground wire is required to divert electricity away from an appliance in case there is an electrical short or fault in the system.
"Had there been a fault in the wiring, the metal parts of the fountain could have been electrically live," said Desmond. "Not to ground a drinking fountain, it's terribly dangerous and irresponsible. There's enough electricity in the high voltage line to... I don't want to think about what could have happened."
All the problems were described by Desmond as health and safety issues.
"The Swiss cheese nature of the construction, with the holes where the fire-stopping materials should have been, would have acted like a chimney spreading fire up and throughout the school," he said.
"There are 15 lights times how many rooms?" Desmond asked. "They were resting on the flimsy grid instead of being attached."
"This is the last thing we wanted right now," Desmond said, although he said he was still confident the district could reopen at least part of the school in the fall, after all the concerns had been cleared up.
"All I can say is thank God we spotted these defects before anyone was killed or injured," Desmond said. "I do not get the impression this was built as a place children would spend their days."
GRAPHIC: COLOR PHOTO; PHOTO, Richard Hertzler, (1) Dan Desmond, school board member, climbs above where the drop ceiling hung to look through a hole in a wall. probably left for a vent that was never installed. In the event of a fire, the hole would have allowed fire and smoke to spread. (2) Space around the pipes (pictured at left) should have been sealed to prevent fire and smoke from passing through in the event of a fire, officials say.
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