​​by Forrest Williams​ ​
​School Inspections Supervisor

According to the Minnesota Fire Incident Reporting System (MFIRS), there were 27 school fires in 2021 — coincidentally, the same as the total for 2020 — down significantly from 39 fires in 2019. We're trending in the right direction, but that's not the point of this article.

What's noteworthy is that the majority of those 27 school fires in 2021 flew under the radar of the State Fire Marshal Division (SFMD). In many cases, the SFMD wasn't notified of a fire event, neither by school officials nor the responding fire department, so we're asking for your help.

​A recent school fire involving a vestibule heating unit. These small-scale fires often go unreported to SFMD.

Although the Minnesota State Fire Code (MSFC) requires the local fire department to be notified of any unwanted fire, there is no similar mandate to report the incident to the SFMD. Since the SFMD inspects K-12 public and public-charter schools every 3 years, it makes sense for us to be notified of any unwanted fire in a facility we inspect. To that end, our inspectors encourage school officials to notify their assigned SFMD school inspector of any fire incident.

Why is it important for the SFMD to be notified? Simply put, it's all about lessons learned. For each fire that occurs in a facility we inspect, our inspectors conduct a post-incident report — a fire code analysis of the event in an attempt to answer several questions, including: 

• What fire protection systems or features were present? Did they function as designed?
• Were there any fire code violations or deficiencies that may have contributed to the cause or severity of the incident?
  
• What steps can be taken to reduce the potential for similar events in the future?
• Did the facility follow its fire safety and evacuation plans based on the characteristics of the event?
  
• Were there any problems with egress and building evacuation?​

Lessons learned from a code analysis perspective can bring positive results such as future code changes, improved fire safety and evacuation plans, safer operations and practices within the facility, and the identification of fire trends.

And here's where we need help from local fire departments who respond to a fire, explosion, or hazardous materials release at a public school — or in any other facility inspected by the SFMD: We're asking fire departments to notify the State Duty Officer. The Duty Officer will then contact an SFMD investigator who can provide any necessary assistance regarding origin and cause, and will also notify the SFMD school inspector for your region.

Contact the Minnesota State Duty Officer at 651-649-5451 or 800-422-0798.

Questions? Send an email to SFMD: fire.code@state.mn.us. As always, we appreciate your help keeping Minnesota schools safe.​