Over the past two evenings, February 13 and 14, our personnel received training on response to sprinklered properties. Our own member, Bill Fries III, put together a program covering the basics of sprinkler systems and response tactics when dispatched for a fire or other emergency at these locations. Firefighters learned the ins and outs of what to do and what not to do when faced with a fire in these structures. Mount Airy has many facilities with sprinkler systems where responders need to know where they are and how to hook up to the fire department connections that supply them. Bill took the time to drive around town and photograph almost all of our sprinklered facilities for his presentation and volunteer, career and our junior members learned a lot.

Bill has been a fire protection engineer his entire adult life and began learning during his early volunteer days in New Jersey. Bill worked as a Fire Protection Engineer for Liberty Mutual Insurance for 24 years, then went to work as the fire marshal at major government facilities in the Washington DC region. He has been a dedicated volunteer for MAVFC for many years and continues to pass on his knowledge to younger firefighters. His passion for fire protection engineering has even led to a sprinkler collection of over 3000 different sprinkler heads, some from original systems built in the 1800’s.