Two Fort Wood Firemen Receive Award For Hospital Design Improvement

Two Fort Leonard Wood Fire Department personnel have received an award for improving the dining facility air conditioning at the new hospital construction site.
Fort Wood Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Curtis and Fire Inspector Olaf Jensen received the award for discovering a problem earlier this year in the design of the grease duct in the dining facility kitchen ceiling. The award is unique to the hospital project and is intended to recognize exceptional efforts to address or avoid tension, conflict, or friction of the project. Curtis said he and Jensen noticed the initial design didn’t meet standards during an inspection in January. Jensen added that grease would have built up over time if the design hadn’t been improved. He said, “We would have eventually had a fire in the duct system,” noting the dining facility is located on the ground floor. “That fire would have gone all the way up to the roof.”