Arkansas community builds safe room at local elementary school
Danville, Arkansas: $2.51 million
Project Description
Danville is an economically disadvantaged rural community and the Danville School District has no protection for its students during severe wind and tornado events. Danville plans to build a multi-purpose safe room next to the elementary school.
The proposed safe room will have space for 1,126 faculty, staff and students; it will have six wheelchair spaces and be comply with requirements of the American with Disabilities Act. The project includes adding roof materials that will be standing seam metal or single ply and steel exterior doors, frames, and offset doors will be used to prevent assault from flying projectiles as required by the FEMA publication P-361 Safe Rooms for Tornadoes and Hurricanes.
The HVAC system will be built to meet FEMA’s minimum ventilation ratio. By including nature-based solutions such as permeable pavement, the project should also help improve stormwater management and reduce future risk of flash flooding.