WASHINGTON (7News) — Nearly three years after the 7News I-Team uncovered fire safety failures in D.C. Public Schools, internal emails reveal the behind-the-scenes effort that led DCPS to overhaul school safety operations.
In February 2022, the 7News I-Team exposed years of safety lapses across DCPS. The school district’s records showed most schools skipped monthly fire drills dating back to at least 2017. Fire safety advocates said this meant students were likely unprepared for emergencies.
“The health and safety of our students and staff remain a priority,” D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee said in response to 7News’ original reporting.
Internal emails obtained by the I-Team provide a clearer picture of how the school district responded as 7News first sounded the alarm, detailing fire safety risks discovered by fire inspectors in the same schools unprepared for an emergency.
In February 2022, fire department staff forwarded 7News findings to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s team with a note: “For your awareness.”
The D.C. Fire Marshal circulated a link to our investigations.
By March 2022, after multiple reports had aired, the D.C. Fire Marshal asked school leaders to “double-check each of the schools’ emergency evacuation plans to ensure they’re current and accurate.”
In another email to the D.C. Fire Chief, legal counsel, and other department heads, the D.C. Fire Marshal wrote, “Since we were made aware of this issue, our school inspectors went back through all the school records and generated notice of violations for the missed fire drills.”
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D.C. Fire Chief John Donnelly acknowledged the impact of 7News’ reporting.
“Because of the report, we’ve issued notices of violations 31 times to schools that were lagging,” Chief Donnelly said.
By fall 2022, D.C. Public Schools fire preparedness documentation shows significant improvement.
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DCPS also began documenting emergency evacuation plans, severe weather drills, and lockdown drills consistently, new safety documents obtained by 7News through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
“It’s great to see they took this seriously, they made changes, and the numbers are very different than they were two and a half years ago,” Lorraine Carli of the National Fire Protection Association said.
