University braces for mass sprinkler system installment

As the New Jersey legislature continues to debate several bills that would require the installation of sprinklers in campus dormitories, the University is preparing for a massive and expensive renovation project.

If the bill being considered by the assembly passes, the University will have two years to equip all its dormitory buildings with sprinkler systems.

"It's definitely safe to say this is the hot topic," a spokesman for Gov. Christie Whitman said yesterday. "More than likely something is going to be signed by the governor. I don't think she'll turn this down."

According to Mike McKay, University general manager of plant and services, the University already had plans to install sprinklers in dormitories as part of its 30-year dorm renovation program, which closes one or two dorms each year for remodeling.

Patton and Blair already have been renovated and equipped with approved sprinkler systems, and Scully was built with the appropriate systems, according to McKay. None of the other University dorms, however, has a fire sprinkler system.

If the bill passes, the University will be forced to install temporary piping in all dorms currently without sprinklers, McKay said. Then, when those same dorms undergo their scheduled renovations, the temporary pipes will be stripped out and replaced with permanent sprinkler systems.

McKay noted that this repetitive process would be expensive and tedious. "This just compounds the work," he said.

The University may not even have time to properly cover water pipes in hallways and dorm rooms, Assistant Director for Physical Planning George Olexa said. "If we have to speed through installation, we might have to leave the pipes exposed," he said.

"We'll run a pipe down the hallway and then into each student's room, where the sprinkler head will be," he said. "We'll make every attempt to make the sprinkler heads not visible. If the pipe has to run into the room, we'll build a box around it and paint it the color of the wall."

"It might be possible to put the pipes along the ceiling, but if not, the pipes will be exposed until the renovation," Olexa added.

Newer dorms such as Wilson and Butler — which are made up of rooms lining a corridor — have a more simple and linear floor plan, making them more conducive to the installation of pipes, Olexa said.

However, "older dorm buildings have a more difficult layout of the floor," Olexa noted. "In dorms like Little and Blair, you have to go through a common room to get to a bedroom, and there are winding and dropping halls."

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"Generally, in the older dorms, they made less of an attempt to line things up vertically. When we put a pipe in the closet, on the next floor up it may be in the middle of the living room," McKay said.

Engineers will also face some difficulty running pipes vertically between floors. Most likely, the pipes will run through the stairway, Olexa said.

Contractors

Since the University will be performing renovations just as other institutions in New Jersey scramble to install their own sprinklers, the project may be especially difficult because of a shortage of available contractors. Installing sprinklers at Princeton will require as many as 10 firms, according to McKay.

The proposed legislation would appropriate between $70 million and $90 million in grants and loans to aid institutions as they renovate to ensure fire safety. Spies said the University may benefit from this funding. "The state offers a combination of grants and loans, and we will need to look at how to take advantage of these," he said.

Spies added that the loans favor public institutions. "If there's more money needed than the state has, they'll have to ration it, and I suspect public schools will get more," Spies said. "I'm sure we'll get a reasonable share, but it probably won't be all we need or want."

Olexa said he believes the state legislature may be failing to consider the existing fire safety systems of certain schools, such as Princeton. "This is the approach that the legislature has chosen to take after the Seton Hall fire. But the legislature has mandated without looking at every special place."

"Princeton has a pretty sophisticated fire alarm system now. We have smoke detection and alarms connected to Public Safety, which is staffed around the clock," he said.

McKay, however, said he viewed sprinklers as the best option for fire safety in dorms. "Sprinklers do help in escape," he said. "They knock the smoke and heat down to a given elevation so people can run to the exit before smoke overwhelms them. Also, water around helps prevent assets from being destroyed," he noted.