Aug 30, 2015 5 min read

WAYNESBURG – A plan to keep the Greene County Courthouse safe from fire came with an unintended – and soaking wet – consequence in recent years.

The fire-suppression sprinkler system installed during major renovations of the historic courthouse in the late 1990s kept water stored in the pipes, meaning freezing temperatures could burst the lines, causing water to rain down from the rafters.

That happened in January 2009 when a 2-inch pipe in the attic’s sprinkler system broke, drenching a small room at the rear of the main second-floor courtroom and flooding the register’s and recorder’s office on the ground floor.

“It basically rained on the recorder’s office, so a lot of that entire side of the courthouse was damaged,” said Jeff Marshall, who serves as the county’s chief clerk.

The county learned from that and one other similar experience, Marshall said, prompting them to totally rebuild the fire suppression two years ago when security updates were made in the building. The new “dry system” only pumps water through the lines when a fire is detected.

It not only protects the building from unforeseen flooding, Marshall said, but also takes away the heavy water load from sitting in the attic that was also causing the rafters to separate.

“It’s preserving the records, but doesn’t lessen the aspects of the fire system,” Marshall said. “It’s just reducing the vulnerability.”

The importance of fire and security systems was highlighted earlier this month after the Century Inn and many of its historic records were destroyed by fire.

The Greene County Historical Society’s museum at the old “poor farm” in Franklin Township has many irreplaceable artifacts and documents, but Director Eben Williams said the organization has formulated a plan to keep them as safe as possible in an emergency. While the building along Rolling Meadows Road does not have fire suppression, it does have a state-of-the-art security and fire alarm system that is motion-activated and uses infrared sensors to detect slight increases in heat.

The staff situates its displays in a way that would minimize a fire risk by keeping certain items away from boiler areas or heat registers. They also have a “disaster preparedness protocol” should the unthinkable happen.

“If there is a fire or if something happens here, we have a prioritized list of what can be taken out. if possible, or the least-affected items if there is a fire,” Williams said. “We know if something happens, this is the plan of attack. It needs to be well thought out.”

Other important records, such as documents signed by Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and J. Edgar Hoover, are stored off-site in a safety deposit box. The most important items are returned to the building only if they’re needed for an exhibit.

That doesn’t mean some sort of sprinkler system isn’t a top priority, Williams said. But first, the historical society needs to make updates to the building and its foundation, which is a priority and expected to be costly.

Just a fire alarm system alone can be expensive, as Marshall noted when the county installed alarms, detectors and pull stations in the county office building along High Street after a basement fire in 2011. That system cost $33,000, but that paled in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of dollars the county spent refurbishing the building after the fire.

Williams said a fire-suppression installation is still a priority, but would likely coincide with a new heating and cooling system to keep the building’s contents in optimal temperature conditions regardless if there is an emergency.

“If we can get that all of that done at once, we don’t have to crack it open again,” Williams said. “It’s a major undertaking, and nothing that will happen very soon. Once we get the building fixed up, the next step is to find funding with the next aspect to protecting the building.”

On Waynesburg University’s campus, Miller and Hanna halls are both on the National Register of Historic Places, school spokeswoman Ashley Wise said. The university’s facilities staff conducts interior and exterior inspections each year and monitor any improvements that need to be made.

Most importantly, though, both building have fire-protection systems, along with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, Wise said.

Of course, any building and precious document can be damaged in a variety of ways.

A malfunctioning sprinkler system could destroy the thousands of old family records held by the Cornerstone Genealogical Society inside the log cabin courthouse that was rebuilt in the early 2000s, so one was never installed. But the society did purchase fire alarm sensors and a security system five years ago, which would automatically alert the county’s emergency dispatchers, if needed.

But genealogy member Bonnie Kiger took comfort from the building’s built-in protection with the Waynesburg-Franklin Volunteer Fire Department as its next-door neighbor.

“At least the (alarm system’s) lights would flash and bells would sound,” Kiger said. “The fire department is right next to us, so they would see it really quickly.”