Harford County Schools Give 'Extra No' To Hose Company

Scott Hurst heard back from Harford County Public Schools recently, only to get what he called an “extra no” in response to his offer to outfit Havre de Grace’s public schools with carbon monoxide detectors.

Hurst, the Susquehanna Hose Company chief, pitched a proposal to Harford County Public Schools in April to donate between 15 and 20 carbon monoxide detectors for , and schools, as well as .

He recently learned via a third-party email that his offer had been declined by Assistant Superintendent of Operations Cornell Brown and Chief of Administration Joe Licata. Last week, after Hurst requested an explanation, he received a call back from Brown.

“It’s not per code,” Hurst said of the reason his offer was rejected. “The code doesn’t call for it. Havre de Grace schools have not had a kid get sick or injured from carbon monoxide. They didn’t just want to do it for Havre de Grace. I told him it was irresponsible and appalling.”

An email sent Monday to Teri Kranefeld, manager of communications for Harford County Public Schools, seeking comment on behalf of the school system was not returned.

Hurst said in Patch’s first report on the proposal that he thinks “within five to seven years, they’ll be mandatory in schools anyway.”

He reiterated that stance Monday, going as far as to say that all public buildings in the county may be required to have carbon monoxide detectors in the near future if proposed legislation is passed by the county.

A spokesman for Harford County Executive David Craig said it would be premature to comment on such legislation.

“The Administration is looking at the issue raised by Susquehanna Hose Company,” Harford County spokesman Robert Thomas wrote in an email. “I cannot say if any legislation will be drafted to include all public buildings, but we are examining the issue of the potential need and/or use for carbon monoxide detectors in certain occupancies.”

Hurst thinks the ingredients for an incident at Havre de Grace's schools are in place, particularly after multiple responses to the local schools for gas-related incidents.

“They are primed to have a carbon monoxide incident in schools,” Hurst said. “As places are older, the older buildings is where we find these carbon monoxide leaks.”

Hurst's offer was to donate “two or three” detectors at and elementary schools and , as well as up to eight detectors for the two buildings that make up . He said new detectors cost approximately $17, but that the Susquehanna Hose Company has a surplus.

Hurst was instrumental in helping create within Havre de Grace that mandated the installation of carbon monoxide detectors in city residences that burned fossil fuels. That was passed in February.