Overview

Fires can destroy years of work in a matter of minutes. They can also take lives. Although fires do not often occur, they are always a possibility.

To ensure that all personnel are aware of proper fire procedures, two mock fire drills will be conducted each year.

No smoking allowed. UTMB is a smoke-free environment. Personnel must completely extinguish and discard any smoking materials upon entering campus.

Faulty electrical outlets can start fires. A faulty electrical outlet is to be reported immediately to the appropriate supervisor, who, in turn, is to report it to the Physical Plant Department.

The Health Information Management Department is equipped with eight (8) Halon 1211 hand-held fire extinguishers. They are located in the following areas:

• McCullough Room 3.310……….two
• McCullough Room 3.200……….one
• McCullough Room 3.300……….one
• McCullough Room 3.240……….two
• McCullough Room 3.320……….one
• UHC Room 3.708……...………….one

Health Information Management is also equipped with three (3) "BC" Class fire extinguishers located in the following areas:

• Clinical Sciences Room 352……….one
• Clinical Sciences Room 350……….two

At the Offsite File Operations Center at the Lipton Tea building, the H.I.M. department maintains six (6) "A-B-C" class hand-held fire extinguishers.

The third floor of the McCullough Building is equipped with two (2) fire hose cabinets each of which contain 100 feet of unlined fire hose with nozzle and a Class BC extinguisher.

DISCOVERING A FIRE

If a fire is discovered on Hospital premises, the following steps should be taken by employees of the Health Information Management Department:

• Life Safety – remove anyone from immediate danger.
   
• Report the fire by dialing the UTMB fire phone number 2-1-2-1-1. Be prepared to give the following information:
• Your name.
• Telephone extension from which you are calling.
• The exact location of the fire.
• If possible, the nature and extent of the fire. Keep the phone line with the operator open.
   
• Confine the fire. Close, but do not lock, all doors and windows.

• Pull the fire alarm box. These are located across from rooms 3.320 and 3.740, outside rooms 3.240 and 3.200 and between the UHC Building and JW McCullough Building.

• Shut off all electrical equipment.

• Help control the fire. In attempting to extinguish the fire, only personnel trained in the use of portable fire extinguishers should try and put out the fire.

•  Be prepared to evacuate ALL areas if it becomes necessary.

NOTE: All personnel in the affected area must remain on duty and assist as directed by the person in charge until they are told to evacuate. 

B. If a fire is discovered on Hospital premises, each Health Information Management Department supervisor (as Team Leaders responsible for the evacuation of all employees in their area at the time of an emergency) will do the following in addition to the above:

1. Ensure that the designated personnel are assisting in the evacuation of any handicapped people in their area.

 

2. Ensure that all people in their area evacuate the building (evacuation routes are clearly posted in all hallways) and assemble in front of Old Red (Ashbel Smith Bldg.) remaining there until the "All Clear" is given.

 

3. Check all occupied spaces upon the sounding of the alarm to ensure that everyone is evacuating. This includes utility and supply rooms, conference rooms, rest rooms, etc.

 

4. Verify that all employees in the area at the time of the emergency are present and accounted for in front of Old Red following evacuation.

NOTE: If someone knows of a person still in the building they should inform Fire Department Personnel of the last known location of the individual. For no reason should anyone attempt to re-enter the building.

To assist you in remembering what you do in the event of a fire, fire response procedures have been designed around the acronym "R.A.C.E.":

Rescue, attempt to rescue anyone in the immediate vicinity of the fire.

Alarm, turn in the alarm by using the fire alarm pull station and dialing extension 2-1-2-1-1. Be prepared to give your name, title, extension number, location and extent of the fire.

Confine; close all doors and windows to confine the fire to the smallest area possible. Do not lock any door.

Extinguish, put out the fire if you have been trained in the use of a portable fire extinguisher and are comfortable in doing so. If not, close the door to the area and assist in the evacuation of the area.

The Health Information Management main file room is protected by a Halon 1301 Fire Suppression System. This system is based upon the principle that an inert gas can prevent a fire from spreading until a fire fighting team arrives. There are other reasons for using Halon:

• It is a very effective extinguishing agent.
• It is a very clean extinguishing agent. Only direct applications to sensitive electronic equipment may require minor clean up.
• It will not destroy written documents as water would.

This system has three (3) types of alarms:

1. Trouble Alarm
2. First Stage Alarm
3. Second Stage Alarm

What happens when there is a Trouble Alarm?

• The LED/Light Emitting Device in the panel labeled SYSTEM FAULT will be lit. This is an AMBER colored light to tell you that there is a system malfunction. The term malfunction may be used to describe a condition other than normal for a detector.
• The fire detector may become loose in its socket due to repeated bumping and jarring.
• Vibrations from the air conditioning ducts may cause a bad connection.
• A component in the detector may have broken.

When this happens there will be an audible buzzing or screeching sound from the control panel. In the panel window you will see the trouble light on. This will tell you that there is a system malfunction. This condition should be handled in the following manner:  

• Notify the supervisor of the alarm.
• Notify Physical Plant (Electrical Maintenance) at ext. 21604.
• Notify the Office of Environmental Health and Safety at ext. 24190 (Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm). If after hours, call the PBX operator and request that they notify the on-call person for the Office of Environmental Health and Safety (O.E.H.S.).

The second type of alarm is called a First Stage Alarm. This is a fire alarm signal. When a detector senses an abnormal condition such as smoke or dust, it reports it to the control panel. The color of the light will be red. The detector nearest to the source detects the offending agent. When the First Stage Alarm sounds, four things will occur:

• At the panel, the Zone Alarm of the associated zone will light a RED L.E.D. This means that one detector has sensed a problem out of the ordinary and is reporting it.
   
• The sensing smoke detector status lamp, located on the detector itself, will assume a steady on light. Prior to this the light would blink.
   
• The AHU or air conditioning units in this area will shut down to prevent removing the Halon from the area.
   
• The alarm bell will sound a steady signal.

Let’s assume that we have a true fire condition. One detector has activated. When you look around the room you see a computer is smoking or is on fire. To try and prevent the second detector from activating you extinguish the fire with a portable Halon fire extinguisher. YOU ARE A STAR! By using a portable fire extinguisher you may have saved UTMB a large amount of money.

In another scenario, assume no one is in the room. The first detector activates; the horn sounds a steady tone. One of the staff enters the room and sees the computer on fire. But before you can react, the smoke sets off a second detector. Once the second detector is activated the whole Halon system is activated. (This system requires that two (2) detectors go into "Fire Alarm" mode before the system will activate to expel the Halon into the area.)

This is the third and final stage of the automatic reporting and discharging sequence. This is called a Second Stage Alarm. The following events will occur:

• When the smoke activates the second detector the bell will go from a steady ringing to a pulsing ring, about 40 pulses/rings per minute.
   
• A second light will light on the control panel.

The most important difference now is that THE AUTOMATIC TIMER HAS STARTED. If the timer is not interrupted, the Halon will be expelled into the room in thirty (30) seconds!

If you know for sure that it is only the computer on fire, you can stop the timer by pressing the ABORT BUTTON. This will reset the timer to zero (0). The ABORT BUTTON timer is on a thirty (30) second delay. You then have less than thirty (30) seconds to get help, extinguish the fire or depress the Abort Button again to interrupt the timer. The Abort Button must be depressed every twenty (20) seconds or less to be sure that the system does not activate and discharge Halon into the area. You may also choose to hold a constant pressure on the button. Whatever your decision, remember that the system will discharge in thirty (30) seconds if the Abort Button is not depressed.

NOTE: You must be out of the room before the system discharges.

If for some reason the automatic system fails to function, the Halon system can be put into operation by pulling the Manual Release. The time sequence is the same. The most important point to remember is, when the Manual Pull Station is utilized, the timer cannot be interrupted. The system WILL discharge.