Francis Vineyard
Registered User
September 13, 2011 — Student residents of the University of Virginia's historic Academical Village will likely find their rooms a little less cozy this winter, after University safety officials prohibited them from having fires in their fireplaces.
Cracks have been found in the many flues and chimneys in the student rooms at the center of the University, according to Michael B. Merriam, associate director of maintenance for Facilities Management. These openings could allow a chimney fire to quickly spread into the roofs over the rooms along the Lawn and the Ranges, where there are no firebreaks.
Black Goose Chimneys, a consulting firm that examined the 106 chimneys, found nearly all to be compromised to some degree and recommended they not be used until the chimneys, flues, fireboxes and dampers are repaired, Merriam said.
While the rooms are equipped with fire and smoke detectors, there is no fire suppression system. The University is weighing whether to permanently end the use of the fireplaces or to repair the flues and chimneys and install fire suppression equipment, he said.
Continue reading; http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=16048
Cracks have been found in the many flues and chimneys in the student rooms at the center of the University, according to Michael B. Merriam, associate director of maintenance for Facilities Management. These openings could allow a chimney fire to quickly spread into the roofs over the rooms along the Lawn and the Ranges, where there are no firebreaks.
Black Goose Chimneys, a consulting firm that examined the 106 chimneys, found nearly all to be compromised to some degree and recommended they not be used until the chimneys, flues, fireboxes and dampers are repaired, Merriam said.
While the rooms are equipped with fire and smoke detectors, there is no fire suppression system. The University is weighing whether to permanently end the use of the fireplaces or to repair the flues and chimneys and install fire suppression equipment, he said.
Continue reading; http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=16048