WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Columbia fire officials meet with Benedict about code violations

Columbia fire officials meet with Benedict about code violations

By Jody Barr - email

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Officials from Benedict College and the Columbia Fire Department met Monday to discuss the many Benedict fire code violations discovered by fire marshals over the past several months.

A WIS News 10 investigation uncovered more than 500 fire code violations after fire marshals combed the campus last fall. In September, Richland County ordered the evacuation of all 250 residents of a Benedict motel-turned-dormitory after several more violations were found.

Deputy Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins, Fire Marshal Carmen Floyd and Benedict College president David Swinton met on Monday to discuss the violations. Benedict spokesperson Kymm Hunter did not give specifics on the meeting, but said it was "very productive."

"They still have a number of violations over there, however, they are working diligently to correct these violations," said Jenkins.

"As previously stated, Benedict College welcomes the observations of the Columbia Fire Marshal," Hunter continued. "The safety of our students, faculty and staff is our number one priority. Benedict College has made a considerable amount of improvements and upgrades to its physical plant over past year. We will continue to work with the Columbia Fire Marshal to resolve any remaining issues."

Last Friday, for the first time in a year, fire marshals went back out to Benedict for re-inspections.

Jenkins says so far in this round, inspectors found one building with a broken fire alarm system, all other life-safety issues he says are repaired.

Our investigation showed inspectors found mold growing in nearly every dorm on campus.

To get a better understanding of Benedict's fire code violations, we compared them to the inspections of other small colleges in Columbia. We looked at the same time period as when the Benedict violations were found, January 2008 through September 2009.

At Allen University, 16 violations were found in four buildings on campus during the time period. Thirteen of those violations were found in dormitories, and all of them were corrected within two months.

At Columbia College, four violations were found in two buildings. Just one of those violations was found in a dorm, and it was corrected within hours.

As of Monday, inspectors have re-inspected less than half of Benedict's buildings.

Benedict's spokeswoman, Kymm Hunter, released a statement about the meeting Monday.

She says that student, faculty and staff safety is the school's number one priority and that the school will continue working with fire inspectors to correct the violations.

Chief Jenkins will meet with Benedict's president, Dr. David Swinton again Thursday for another update.

Jenkins says this latest round of inspections should wrap up by Friday.

Previous Stories:

• Richland Co. report lists many Benedict fire code violations

• Richland Co. orders Benedict to evacuate dorm

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