Darlington County Fire District firefighters have received a grant that will go toward the purchase of equipment to help them save lives and property during fire emergencies.
FM Global, whose subsidiaries insure large commercial establishments, presented the fire district with $2,032 on Tuesday, Darlington County Fire District Chief David Williamson said.
“I’ve known about the grant program and (FM Global) has assisted a lot of fire companies throughout the country,” he said. “It just seemed to be a good fit. And here we are — we were successful at obtaining that grant.”
The money will pay for a computer program that will create pre-incident surveys for firefighters, Williamson said.
A pre-incident survey is essentially a map of a business. It is comprised of a floor plan and the names and telephone numbers of the people whom firefighters should contact in case of a fire, Williamson said.
The survey also contains indicators that will let firefighters know where utility disconnects and flammable liquids are located inside the building.
“We’ll have an idea of the layout of the building. If they have any kind of unique chemical we can indicate that (on the survey),” Williamson said. “We can look at this floor plan and get an image in our mind.”
Without the pre-incident survey computer program, firefighters would have to draw their own surveys, he said. Hand-drawn survives aren’t very accurate because they vary from artist to artist.
“I am certainly not an artist,” Williamson said. “It depends on who drew it, that would determine the quality. The program will allow us to have consistency.”
Firefighters still have to visit each business site and study the layout, but they won’t have to spend hours drawing a survey, he said.
Having a computerized pre-incident survey is great during an emergency because, on scene, firefighters don’t have to waste time figuring out the layout of a building, Williamson said.
It can also help locate a firefighter or a victim who may be trapped inside a building, he said.
“There’s no guess work about it. You take all that time out of the equation because you’ve already done that,” Williamson said. “It’s just a great tool. It helps us to prevent some personal injuries and death.”
The new program will also help the fire district’s Insurance Service Office (ISO) rating remain low, he said.
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