No One Should Die in a House Fire!

r w

            More Americans die from fire than all natural disasters combined!  U.S. Fire Administration 2006 data reports 3,245 people killed, 6,400 injured, 106 firefighters killed and with total costs exceeding $165 billion.  During the last 10 years, 40,225 people have died from fire, 81% of them from house fires.  While the number of fires has declined, the ratio of deaths to fires has remained the same.  The South, with North Carolina 12^th, retains 12 of the 16 highest fire fatality rates in the Nation according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) data.  Yadkin County is blessed to have the lowest fire fatality rate in North Carolina, although any fatality is too much.  The years of fire safety training, smoke detector programs, and the excellent response of the Volunteer Fire Departments and EMS may be paying off.    

Cooking, especially unattended cooking is the leading cause of home fires and resultant injuries accordingly to the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA).  Typically the stove burner has been left on while the homeowner has gone to bed, left the house, or simply got sidetracked.  Most injuries occur when the homeowner tries to put the fire out.  Candles are the second leading cause of home fire injuries.  The majority of home fire deaths are blamed on accidental igniting of upholstered furniture, home heating equipment, and arson, in that order.  Alcohol use has been estimated to be a contributing factor in 40% of residential fire deaths.

            Smoke alarms are so essential because we may spend around a third of our time asleep and homes are getting larger.   My very own family was once awakened by the blaring sound of a smoke alarm.  Fortunately no one was injured, though our home was totally destroyed.  Nationally, two-thirds of all fire deaths occur where there was no working smoke detector.  There was no alarm at all in half of the deaths. 

Nuisance alarms are the leading reason for disabling smoke alarms.  False alarms may be caused by a combination of improper installation of the wrong type of alarm in the wrong place, improper maintenance, cleaning material fumes, moisture, exhaust hoods, dryers, etc.  The most common type of smoke alarm used today is the ionization type.  These alarms are ideal choices for the living room, family rooms, recreation rooms and may be used in bedrooms and hallways.  Photoelectric smoke alarms, may be better suited to detect larger smoke particles such as those emitted from smoldering, slow burning fires.  They are best used in hallways, especially near bathrooms, and in or near kitchens, or in places where ionization type alarms cause false alarms.  One choice for bedrooms and other sleeping areas is the combination ionization and photoelectric sensor alarm.  Heat detectors may be used in kitchens, furnace rooms, garages or anywhere you want extra protection or where smoke detection would cause false alarms.  Never use heat detectors of any brand or type as the sole means of fire detection in your house!

Having a detector does not mean it is working, and as noted earlier in most fire deaths, it isn’t.  The most common reason for a detector to not work is that the battery is missing.  Consider the fireman who reported, “The victims had taken the battery out of their smoke detector so it would not go off while they prepared Thanksgiving dinner. They never got around to replacing it and a fire broke out the following day.”  Newer detectors have sealed 10 year lithium batteries and smart silence features can help defeat this problem.  Replace all smoke detectors over 10 years old.  All things made by man can and will fail eventually.  Location means everything in fire detection.  Every home, even a one room log cabin, needs at least two smoke detectors.  Consider the following New York Times report “ A woman, her 11-month-old son and the homeowner (who tried twice to save them) were killed …in a fire that swept through their two-story home … only one smoke detector was found in the house, in the basement …”.  The NFPA National Fire Alarm Code 2007 Edition requires at least 1 smoke alarm on each level of a house and sometimes more.  There must also be one in every bedroom and one outside each sleeping area.  Also consider smoke and heat detector combinations in the kitchen, laundry and furnace rooms, and don’t forget visual or vibrating alarms for the hearing impaired.  You want the smoke to reach the detector well before it reaches you!  They should be interconnected so if any alarm is triggered, they all sound.  Many Fire Departments have free smoke alarm programs, and you may buy from many places including btisafety.com, but please get them somewhere!   

            You must have a plan on what to do in case of fire.  Plan several escape routes, include two ways out of every room and provide escape ladders where needed.  Locate a meeting place and practice your plan  

As a father, a volunteer firefighter with 25 years experience, a registered Professional Engineer, and as president of a home safety business, I urge you to use all available tools to prevent fire related deaths.  

Dempsey Brewer, P.E.

President, Brewer Technologies, Inc.