Fire safety pays off

In the six days between Feb. 6 and Feb. 11, there were six fires that killed 19 children and nine adults across the nation. This seems to be an increase in fires that have claimed the lives of three or more people per incident. Since then, more fires have occurred with the same outcome – fatalities.

In New York, 10 people perished in an apartment fire, nine of them children. In Kentucky, a house fire took the lives of another 10 people, six of them children; four children in Tennessee, four kids in Texas, and the list goes on. One hundred nine lives lost in less than a month and a half. More than half were innocent children who had no choice in the conditions in which they lived.

All of these tragedies were preventable through commonplace fire safety practices. Although 13 of every 14 homes have at least one smoke detector, almost half of home fires and three fifths of fire deaths occur in homes with no detectors. Thousands of people still die each year in home fires where smoke detectors aren’t present. In addition, there are now more homes with smoke detectors that don’t work than homes without detectors at all. These poorly maintained units create a false sense of security among occupants.

Approximately one third of fires occur in homes with smoke detectors that aren’t working, and hundreds of people die each year in these fires. Tragically, the grave importance of installing and maintaining smoke detectors has not yet been fully realized. Working smoke detectors alert people to fire and give them time to escape in a situation where minutes can mean the difference between life and death. Discuss fire safety, practice it today!

Dan Bean

Fire safety educator

Old Town Fire Department