By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The Hays Fire Department completed 140 pre-emergency building response plans last year.

According to Chief Gary Brown, the plans are a collaboration between the fire department and the building owners on how a fire should be approached.

“Firefighters check buildings to locate the gas shutoff, the main electric controls, how to best get into the building, and the type of roof construction to anticipate how long it would last before collapsing,” Brown said.

They also ask the owners what their priority is for protecting in the building.

“It’s usually the computer systems and business records,” he explained.

The fire department has about 800 principal building plans on paper kept in a binder notebook in the Command truck. “The plans were once computerized on a laptop, but took too long to download, so we’re looking at digitizing the pre-emergency plans with new software which will make it more effective to use in the field,” Brown said.