Page 4 - NW_February_2018

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2018 Off To A Tragic Beginning As Fire Deaths Spike
By Eldon Ledoux, St. George Fire PIO
More citizens of East Baton Rouge Parish have died as a result of home fires in the first ten days of 2018 than in all of 2017. With this tragic beginning of 2018 comes a renewed focus on the importance of smoke detection and alarming devices. None of the homes in which people have perished were found to have a working smoke detector.
Our own St. George Fire Department and other area fire departments have been working with the State Fire Marshal’s Office for quite some time to distribute and install smoke detectors where the need is identified. The local Red Cross has also been focusing their efforts to fill the need with the goal of having working smoke detectors in every home. Although these programs are not new, the unusually cold weather has brought with it an increase in home fires, and unfortunate fire deaths.
It is well-documented that the survival rate of a residential fire is more than doubled with the presence of a working smoke detector in the house. In fact, residential smoke detectors and alarms are the main reason that the number of fire deaths in the United States has fallen from over 7,000 to fewer than 3,500 over the past four decades. The number declined steadily has held in the 3,000 to 3,500 range for the past 15 years.
To request smoke detector inspections or installations contact the St. George Fire Department at 454-6550 or the State Fire Marshall or the American Red Cross.
While it is important to have a smoke detector at least on every floor of your home, or better yet in every bedroom, a smoke detector will not prevent a fire. We must be mindful of fire safety practices to prevent fires from occurring in the home. What detectors and alarms will do is provide an early warning so you can escape a fire before toxic levels of smoke build up and harm you. Remember though, the best house fire is the one that never happens.
More fires start in the kitchen than any other room of the house. The most dangerous fires however, in terms of loss of life are thase that originate in the bedroom at night. That is why extra
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