The safety of students in Harrisonville has always been one of the City’s biggest priorities.
Members of Harrisonville Emergency Services and Harrisonville Missouri Police Department met on November 14, at Harrisonville Elementary School to continue to make that a priority.
During their visit, the departments donated sections of old fire hose, which would normally be recycled after being taken out of everyday use, that had been repurposed into door-sleeve devices used to prevent intruders from entering classrooms.
“When fire hoses are no longer able to be used in the field, they are taken out of service and end up left to sit on pallets full of other old hoses, some are recycled and some are donated to the closest zoo, to be used for swings in the primate house,” Firefighter/Paramedic Tom Ratterman said. “We decided that we would rather keep our children safe instead of giving the hoses to the monkeys.”
Each device uses a 12-inch piece of fire hose. The sleeves are slipped over the door hinge so the door cannot open.
The sleeves can be put into place in about five seconds and can be removed just as quickly, if the class needs to quickly evacuate the classroom after the situation has been deemed clear or if the situation were to drastically change.
Click here to view a demonstration of the device.
After a brief demonstration of how the door sleeves work, Emergency Services staff teamed up with the HES Life Skills class to hand out the devices to each of the school’s classrooms and educate teachers about how to use them.
Paul Mensching, Superintendent of Harrisonville Schools, said the district was grateful for the donation and appreciates the bond between the district and the City.
“We truly appreciate the partnership we have with our first responders. Our priority is student and staff safety and they share that focus with us. These new safety devices will provide another layer of security for our students and staff and we thank the Harrisonville Fire Department/EMS for their efforts to make these available to us.”
Fire Chief Eric Myler says he would encourage all teachers to use the sleeves whenever they have a person in the school who isn’t supposed to be there.
“It secures it from the inside and, if you notice, there is basically no room for the door to move when it is on there,” Myler said.
Jeremiah Jacobs, one of the Harrisonville Police Departments School Resource Officers echoed Myler’s hope that school staff will utilize the devices.
“These devices will provide a secondary lock for teachers to use in the event of an intruder and will buy time for law enforcement to arrive on the scene and be able to gain control of the situation,” Jacobs said.
Myler says, as of now, they are out of hoses to cut. He plans to donate sleeves to each school in Harrisonville, once more hose becomes available.
Click here to read local news coverage of the donation.
