An earlier thread dealt with conditions that might be encountered by fire fighters at a museum site, but I forgot to include the most important consideration - Can they get in? If an alarm is called in and no museum personnel are on site, does your local fire department have a key to the front gate and every locked gate and building on the property? If rail or other vehicles must be moved, how quickly can trained staff members or volunteers arrive to assist the FD? I emphasize the word trained. Any group with property worth protecting really needs a core group trained in basic fire safety.

If gates and buildings are secured with padlocks, have them keyed alike. Label all critical keys and deposit them in a "Knox Box" (see link). This is an ultra-secure receptacle, accessible only to emergency personnel, that can be located at the main building or front gate.

Knox Co.
tmanz@afo.net

This reminds me of one of the recommendations from the NTSB after the head-on at National Capital about a decade ago.

One of the recommendations was to review your site and access to it with the various emergency response agencies (fire, EMT, police, etc.) in your area. If you've called for the EMT's do they how to get to your site? And if you've got a heart attack victum on your train how do you meet the EMTs.

At that time another recommednation was to have radios -- not for dispatch purposes, but to be available to notify your station or office to call for whatever kind of assistance that may be needed by the streetcar or train.

Brian Norden

bnorden49@earthlink.net