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Are complexes fire-safe?
THE BATTALION Page 7
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1978
Tenants question security
Apartment fires in a few area com-
lexes have prompted some resi-
ents to question the security of
heir apartments. Although city
wilding codes do provide prevent-
ve construction, complexes built in
ryan, College Station and rural
reas have different requirements
ir fire protection.
College Station apartments and
uplexes must be separated by a
me-hour tenant separation wall as
lefined in the 1973 building code.
Designed to keep the fire from
preadingquickly, the wall is usually
constructed one of two ways: two
sheets of five-eighths inch fire-coded
sheetrock or two sheets of one-half
inch sheetrock with mineral wool in
sulation between them. The wall ex
tends to the ceiling level.
The purpose of the wall is not
really for protection of the apart
ment, but rather to provide
adequate time to evacuate residents,
says College Station Fire Marshal
Harry Davis.
Other fire protection alternatives
include a four-hour fire wall or a
two-hour party wall, he said. Neither
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Tonight’s broadcast:
courtesy of the wind
United Press International
PLYMOUTH, N. H. — The bone-chilling winds of winter, cursed by
most New Englanders, have been harnessed by the students at
Plymouth State College to run their campus radio station.
"We are on wind power. This hour is 100 percent wind propelled”
goes a station jingle.
“On a good windy day we can run the transmitter the entire day on
wind, station Manager Paul Shulins said Tuesday.
The station’s windmill will charge a bank of storage batteries enough
on the average day to run the 10-watt station for three to four hours.
A 10-mile-per-hour breeze is needed to generate electricity with
maximum output of 200 watts coming at 24 mph.
Shulins said the windmill was purchased to light a sign on campus
and thereby demonstrate the feasibility of wind energy. But interest in
the project dwindled until Shulins and friends installed it at the radio
station.
The first two nights it ran the station for six hours and the project was
labeled a success.
It was originally intended for people to learn about wind power and
that’s what its doing,” Shulins remarked.
Wiolef reaction
to make power?
irveyed
lergy polio
wo perctnl
his hand!
ituation. Si
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I 66 perra;:
and the (l>j
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•proved an;
ip Poll,
of how Caiti
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ODinion atII I United Press International
n 3(37^ I SAN ANTONIO — A researcher
)up sbowoll University of Texas-San An
tonio predicts the discovery of the
arple membrane, the only known
ample of photosyntesis occurring
^thout chlorophyll, can provide the
lechanism for a new type of solar
;ttery.
Dr. Robert D. Renthal, assistant
c sTude Pofessor of biochemistry has been
warded $178,(X)() in grants from the
. i Jublic Health Service and Robert
<IS ■. ...Belch Foundation to continue
imnnt niff* ,
Begin ofl# ldies he be S an two y ears a K° ,nto
Firvrit t ^ le P ur P^ e membrane, a
I x m '.jftecialized patch formed in red bac-
1? . • JBria cells along the Dead Sea and
* David ■^ erS ‘ dt ^ ats ’ converts sunlight into
IS and (lie eectrical energy.
I , J Renthal is quick to credit discov-
in 'l . \En of the purple membrane to Dr.
u 1 ' Walter Stoekenius of the University
I ' , of California-San Francisco. He said
II I this research project is one of several
^ cUns Btarted since Stoekenius isolated the
membrane in 1965 at Rockefeller
University, opening up a wide range
of possibilities for its use.
The purple membrane may repre-
tent the first hope of scientists to
)\ercome the highly unstable condi-
ion of chlorophyll that has pre-
13 ented its use to produce energy for
jBian.
Heretofore — despite scientists’
regress in developing solar cells,
iant reflectors, and other devices —
cientists have lagged far behind na-
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(Next to Bryan High)
4.3 TEXAS AVE. S.
of these is required in the building
code.
The fire wall is made of masonry
material and extends from ground
level to three feet above the roof. Of
the three types of walls, this offers
the best protection, Davis said. The
party wall is also constructed of
sheetrock and extends from the floor
to the roof line, while the tenant sep
aration wall extends only to the ceil
ing.
Davis said he thinks the tenant
separation walls “work pretty well if
installed the way they re supposed to
be.” He added that he feels most of
them are installed properly since
they must pass inspection by both
the building inspector and file in
spector before the owner is allowed
to connect the electricity.
In 1975, a requirement calling for
the installation of smoke detectors in
each dwelling unit was adopted. All
apartments and duplexes built after
May 26, 1975, must be equipped
with an audible smoke detecting
unit. The requirement does not
specify whether the apartment
owner or dweller is to supply the
detector nor does it set out specifi
cations for them, but there must he a
working unit in the dwelling for it to
pass final inspection.
Bryan follows the 1971 version of
the same building code. It also stipu
lates a one-hour tenant separation
wall between units. There is, how
ever, no requirement for a smoke
detector.
“One of these days when they get
those things perfected, we may re
quire them, ” said Bruce Chandler of
the Bryan building inspection de
partment. “I don’t feel like we
shoidd make the builder put in
something that will be disconnected
and left hanging there.
He added that units built before
the 1971 building code was adopted
do not have any requirements for fire
protection.
Brazos County has no fire protec
tion requirements for complexes
built in rural areas, Davis said.
“As far as I know, they (builders)
have no requirements except what
their insurance companies may re
quire, he said. “One of the advan
tages to building in the county is to
do away with the stipulations, al
though they do have to meet certain
rural electricity codes.
There are no legislative bodies,
counties included, that are au
thorized by Texas state law to enact
fire protection requirements, said
Brazos County Judge W.R. Vance.
Builders must only meet the nearest
city’s electrical code.
MSC ALL NITE
FAIR RELIVES
THE TWENTIES
| ALL RECOGNIZED STUDENT ORGANIZATION ^
ARE INVITED TO HAVE BOOTHS IN THE FAIR, $
FEB. 23. ENTRY DEADLINE — DEC. 8.
for more INFO. CALL 845-1515.
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Muscles " w w
Future Bar
ture in their ability to hamass solar
energy from chlorophyll. Although
about one-third as efficient as
chlorophyll, the purple membrane is
more stable and more easily ex
tracted from the bacteria.
“Based on the findings, scientists
eventually may be able to design a
plastic sheet, modeled on the mem
brane, that can store solar energy
and function as a solar battery, Re
nthal said of his studies.
He said sunlight activates a
pump-like mechanism in the purple
membrane that carries protons, the
simplest type of ion, across the cell
membrane.
“The ejected protons produce an
electrochemical gradient that the
cell uses as a miniature battery,” he
said. “The research also may con
tribute to basic medical knowledge.
The functions of the kidneys, the in
testines and the nervous system in
volve ion pumps.”
The bacteria normally use oxygen
to extract energy from food, but
when they become crowded and use
all the oxygen in their surroundings,
they make purple membrances that
allow them to continue to live off
solar energy, he said.
Scientists said because the purple
membrane helps the bacteria to push
salt through their membranes to the
outside, the research also could be
useful in desalination projects to
help man extract fresh water from
the sea.
Bryan-College Station’s
Big City Disco
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