DPS closes dorms due to safety concern

AUSTIN (KXAN/AP) - Two dormitories where Department of Public Safety recruits live closed Friday due to safety and other code concerns.

DPS on Monday announced plans to shut the dorms, which were constructed in 1955 and 1972, respectively, and can house up to 417 people. The dorms are the two buildings closest to the DPS license bureau and were also used by DPS employees who travel to Austin for classes and meetings.

“We take the safety of our employees and students seriously and will do what we must do to provide them with a secure, safe sleeping environment,” said DPS Director Steven C. McCraw.

DPS said all residents will be moved to the nearby St. Michael's Plaza Hotel.

"They're getting the best rate in town," said St. Michael's Plaza Hotel Manager Mesh Bhakta.

Bhakta said DPS blocked off 53 rooms for the 80 recruits until the end of 2009.

The Texas Public Safety Commission on Thursday voted to immediately close the dormitories, citing the safety of students and agency employees.

However, nearly 50 workers would be able to use the dormitories as workspace, said DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange.  They are considered safe, because no one is sleeping during the day, she said.

Asked how DPS would get employees out of the building with no fire alarm system, Mange said, "We'd go around and notify them."

A DPS statement said fire inspections throughout the past eight years have noted deficiencies that would likely cost several million dollars to upgrade.

Improvements to bring the buildings up to Life Safety Code for fire safety include a fire alarm and sprinkler system, a fire suppression system for the cafeteria and enclosing stairwells.

DPS officials said this would likely cost several million dollars, a final estimate that would come from the state facilities agency.

Compounding these issues, the high concentration of calcium in the buildings’ pipes throughout the years has caused the flow of hot water to almost cease. That meant recruits took cold showers. The two dorms are three- and five stories high.