A fire in a single-family dwelling recently occurred in a neighboring jurisdiction. The tragedy was that this fire claimed the lives of two and caused two to have to jump from a second floor window. My thoughts and prayers go out to this family as they deal with this unspeakable loss. As raw as this incident may be, we must talk about this in an attempt to educate. I do not remember if the news reported working smoke alarms, but I am going to present three possibilities, based upon years of experience. The first possibility is that there were no…
Browsing: Fire & Life Safety
I know of three fires, in single-family dwellings with attached garages that have resulted in fatalities, in Chesterfield County alone. The fires that I am thinking about have spanned a number of years, the most recent was a few Sundays ago, but all had devastating results. Each one of these fires was horrific to the families that lost loved ones, so I will not speak of any one of these fires as being worse than any other. In addition to these fatal fires, there have been fires in homes, with attached garages, that have destroyed those homes. Do we stop…
Christmas was on Sunday and there have been three kitchen fires that made the news, with more that we, the unknowing public, were not aware of. What will it take to get people to understand? I have commented, many times before, that the people who live through these fires have probably not read my articles, but that is not always the case. This time of the year offers more distractions, with the fact that more cooking than usual is taking place. Why are unattended, cooking-related fires the leading cause across America? The obvious answer is that the three necessary components…
I have written many times about your need to have a practiced home escape plan. This article will address other exits for when the primary exit is blocked. We all want to use a doorway to enter and exit our home and we even have a particular door that we want to use. The point of this article will be to consider all exit points as viable ways of getting out of your house in a fire. Because it is Christmas, many people have added a larger fuel load, in the way of live trees and packages. We have also…
W e got home from West Virginia the Friday after Thanksgiving. We unpacked the truck and settled in for the evening. The only problem was that my wife said that it felt cooler than normal in the house. I went to the thermostat and saw that it indicated that the auxiliary heat was running, but the outside unit was not running. The thermostat also read 64 degrees, though it was set to 68 degrees. I shut everything off, allowing the system to reset. The system started up, but quickly began to make a sound that we had not heard before.…
I want to take the weeks before Christmas to talk about fire causes that either happened around Christmas, or that resulted in loss of life at other times of the year. I will couple two things into this title: improper disposal of smoking materials and fireplace ashes. I may seem to repeat myself in these articles, but preventing a fire in your home is my number one goal. I remember a Christmas Eve fire in the Northeast, brought on by fireplace ashes being taken from a fireplace or woodstove and placed on the front porch; a child did not believe…
As Christmas rapidly approaches, I thought that we could think of a different list from those being written by children for Christmas morning. It has always been my intent to prevent fires or any other type of accident that could stop your family in their tracks. In almost every case, accidents are preventable. We must be of a mindset that a fire or accident can occur in a moment. I am going to offer you a hodgepodge list of things to keep in mind as you enjoy this special time of the year. Do you have an appropriate number of…
As we come to this special time of the year, many of us will be traveling around the corner, across the state, or across the country. I want you to be prepared as you strike out on that holiday journey. Motor vehicle accidents account for many injuries and deaths each year. Some may say I am the safest driver on the road. What about the other drivers on the road? Others may be traveling on an airplane. Whatever the case, what is your travel plan? Let’s start with those traveling by air. Give yourself plenty of time in the airport.…
I doubt that it has changed much since I left the job; firefighters love to eat. I can remember some of the best meals that I have ever eaten were in a fire station. There is nothing worse than to sit down for a meal and have the “heartsaver” tones go off. Thirty-seven percent of all responses will be to a single-family or multi-family dwelling for a kitchen fire. Thanksgiving is one of those holidays where cooking is a big part of the celebration. Will you have uninvited guests coming to your home? Cooking related fires happen every day, sometimes…
O n November 1, 2010, I retired from a great organization, Chesterfield Fire & EMS. While I still serve as a fire department chaplain and a member of the peer support team, I no longer climb on an engine or ladder truck every third day. Many have asked, do you miss it? In all honesty, I knew that it was time to leave when I left. I worked right up to the day that I retired because I truly enjoyed what God had blessed me to do for 34 total years. My final assignment was Truck 12, A-shift, in Ettrick.…