Who: Director of Commerce Donna Owens, State Fire Marshal James J. McNamee, Superintendent of Industrial Compliance Carol Drake, and Executive Director of the Columbus Open Shelter Kent Beittel.

What: Photo opportunity in conjunction with mattress donation.

Where: Columbus Open Shelter, 370 W. State Street

(actual donation will take place at delivery bays on Starling Ave.)

When: Friday, May 8, 10:30 a.m.

Notes: The Ohio Fire Academy, part of the Ohio Department of Commerce, recently replaced 50 mattresses used in its student dormitory. Instead of throwing the mattresses away, the State Fire Marshal is donating them to the local homeless shelter. Assisting in the donation is Commerce's Division of Industrial Compliance, which regulates bedding and upholstered furniture in Ohio. The division offered to use its resources to sanitize the mattresses.

The Division of State Fire Marshal is the oldest established office of its kind in the United States. In addition to regulating fire codes, it offers assistance to local fire departments through arson investigation, laboratory analysis and training. The Ohio Fire Academy offered more than 1,000 on-site and outreach courses and taught more than 11,000 individuals in fiscal year 1997.

The Division of Industrial Compliance inspects filler material inside representative samples of mattresses, upholstered furniture and stuffed toys sold statewide, to ensure the y are safe and accurately labeled. They also require any second-hand mattresses sold to be sterilized.

The Open Shelter, Inc. is the only "24-hour Emergency Walk-in Shelter" for men in Central Ohio. During 1997, they provided 52,595 nights of shelter to 2,143 different men.

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