DATE: Wednesday, August 13, 1997            TAG: 9708130441

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

                                            LENGTH:   81 lines

LOCALLY: OFFICIALS MAKE PLANS TO IDENTIFY SPRINKLERS, AVERT ANY PROBLEMS

A Virginia Beach fire official said Tuesday that his department is aware of the reported problem with Omega sprinkler heads - and has been asking the company for help in locating buildings where they have been installed.

Reaction among the region's other city fire officials and the hospitality industry to the report that the widely used sprinkler head could be faulty was mixed - ranging from ignorance of the problem in Norfolk and Suffolk to active efforts in Chesapeake and Portsmouth to make sure there is no problem.

Virginia Beach: ``One of the problems is identifying where these fire heads are,'' said Assistant Fire Marshal Robin Preece said. He said the department has contacted the sprinkler's manufacturer, Central Sprinkler Corp. of Lansdale, Pa.

Preece said the company has to get the information from subcontractors who do the installation. He said the city also has contacted the state fire marshal's office about whether to seek a product recall through the U.S. Product Safety Commission.

There have been no reports of failed sprinklers in Virginia Beach, Preece said.

The resort city faces a Sept. 1 deadline requiring all of its hotels to be protected with sprinklers. As of June, nearly all hotels had a sprinkler system.

One Virginia Beach sprinkler system installer worried that people will misunderstand the report and wrongly conclude that all sprinklers are unreliable.

The problem with the Omega model is probably not very widespread, said Mike Meehan, general manager of Virginia Sprinkler Co. of Virginia Beach, adding that it occupies a very small portion of the total sprinkler market.

``One of the things that greatly concerns me about this issue is that the general public is going to look up and say, `This sprinkler head's no good.' There's no problem with the vast majority of sprinkler heads out there.''

Jimmy Capps, president of the Virginia Beach Hotel/Motel Association, said that because he had not seen the report, he could not comment about it.

``We don't know what type we have in our building. But I can say we had a small fire in our building a while ago, and whatever kind we had worked. It put the fire out right away.''

At the Windjammer Motel, owner Rick Anoia said that although he had made a quick check, he could not readily identify the sprinkler's brand name Tuesday.

``This would concern me if we have an Omega sprinkler head,'' Anoia said, but he expressed ``full faith and confidence in the company that installed'' his motel's system.

Chesapeake's Fire Department has not allowed the Omega sprinkler heads to be installed since problems were identified with them, Fire Marshal Thomas H. Cooke said.

The department has never traced any fires to failed Omega sprinkler heads, he said, nor have local fire officials intervened to replace Omega heads.

Norfolk: Capt. William Bisch of the city's fire-prevention staff, said the department has received no notification of the situation.

``Woe be it to us if we ever buy a product without a UL tag on it,'' he said, referring to Underwriters Laboratories, one of the two organizations that have tested the Omega sprinkler head.

Dan Marone, general manager of the Norfolk Waterside Marriott Hotel, said his downtown hotel does not have Omega sprinklers. He recalled a memo sent to Marriott hotels about five months ago that described the Omega problem. He said the hotel checked its systems, but because it was a newer Marriott, it did not have that brand.

Suffolk Fire Capt. Jeff Messinger said he knew of no problems there with the sprinklers. However, he said Tuesday that he would make additional checks.

In Portsmouth, Battalion Chief James E. Hoffler, the department's chief fire marshal, said he was not aware of the reported problem until Tuesday.

He said fire marshals will identify structures that have the Omega type of sprinkler head and will make building owners aware of them.

Hoffler said there are about 100 buildings in the city that have sprinklers; by splitting them up among fire marshals, he expects to have the inspections done within a week.

He said they will target hospitals and nursing homes first. MEMO: This story was reported by Staff Writers John-Henry Doucette, Liz

Szabo, Tom Holden, Paul Clancy, Janie Bryant and Susie Stoughton.

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