Sara Fares has a State of Ohio fire alarm certification and attended the Ohio Fire Academy to study the Ohio Building Code and Fire Code, Sprinkler and Standpipe Systems, Sprinkler design and installation. She has a B.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering from Ohio University in 1990. Sara also has a State of Ohio Engineer in Training Certificate (EIT) in addition to a Mechanical and Architectural Drafting Certificate from Tri-county JVS in Nelsonville, Ohio.

Sara is a Fire Safety Officer with the Environmental Health & Safety office at Ohio University. Her job is to enforce applicable Ohio Building, Fire and NFPA codes to safeguard life and property from hazards of fire and explosion arising from the storage, handling, and use of hazardous materials, devices, and poor conditions in the use or occupancy of buildings. She acts as a liaison between the State Fire Marshall for acceptance testing of fire protection systems at the university, Athens Fire Department, for pre-planning tours, University life and property insurance underwriters, and OUPD for fire and life safety issues and equipment. Sara maintains records, develops and implements fire safety/prevention programs, building emergency procedures, conducts fire drills, and reviews inspection records.

Other projects that Sara has been involved with include:

• Coordinator of Special Projects and Conferences with Ohio University Residence Services. She reviewed and edited Ohio University residence hall floor plans for internal use, web publication, and mailing to prospective students.
  
• AutoCAD Coordinator with Athens Technical Specialists, Inc. Created and edited AutoCAD drawings for ATSI electronic products, organized AutoCAD drawing files in a computer system.
  
• Electrical Engineer/Designer with Pickering Associates. Electrical, fire alarm system, egress lighting, emergency power supply design. Prepared and reviewed drawings for construction plan utilizing AutoCAD and completed study and certification of National Electric Code.
  
• Ohio Department of Transportation. Wrote database program for inventory of traffic signs, equipment, and emergency communications list to power companies.