According to a report from WRIC, the Richmond (VA) Fire Department (RFD) released findings that the city’s 804 area code was not added to the Fox Elementary School fire alarm system, delaying their response to the now-destroyed school when it burned down last Friday night.
The RFD said their crews arrived to the school at 9:29 p.m. after a passerby reported an alarm sounding. However, the RFD noted that the city’s department of emergency communications had not been notified by the Richmond Alarm Company about their system going off at the school.
By 9:39 p.m., the RFD said the Richmond Alarm Company told them that no active alarms were showing on their end.
In a separate statement, Richmond Public Schools (RPS) said those vital alarm panels never called the Richmond Alarm Company because “804” had not been added after Verizon changed operations requiring local calls to include the area code.
Two alarm company employees told WRIC that the company has since been acquired by Johnson Controls, an international security equipment company. Johnson Controls stated that they are now “working with the school district and local authorities to support the investigation.”
The RFD said that, because Fox Elementary was more than 100 years old, it was not retrofitted with sprinklers, leaving open questions whether the other nine 100-plus-year-old Richmond schools have them as well.
WRIC asked both Johnson Controls and RPS who was responsible for adding the area code to the alarm system, but neither entity responded.
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