Published: March 16, 2008 11:25 pm      

Firefighters: Rarely used smoke detectors save lives

Buying a smoke detector could set someone back $5, but firefighters say too many people choose not to fork over the cash.

The overall cost is severe.

Since July 1, 1991, all one- and two-family homes in West Virginia are required, by law, to have working smoke detectors. However, firefighters say most homeowners are apparently not taking heed.

Capt. Billie Trump of the Beckley Fire Department said only 22 percent of homes had operational smoke detectors when city firefighters responded to structure fires in 2006. Another one-third had smoke detectors that did not work.

“I guess part of it is the ‘other guy syndrome,’” he said. “People say, ‘It’ll happen to the other guy, not me.’

“Fires happen on a regular basis. If they didn’t, I wouldn’t have a job.”

Trump said state law requires each dwelling to have a smoke detector in the immediate vicinity of each “sleeping area.” Landlords are required to provide the smoke detectors in their rental properties. The penalty for violating the law is a fine of $50 to $100.

However, smoke detectors and their maintenance are often overlooked, Trump said. At one time, they were “cutting-edge.” Now, some people view them as a nuisance because cooking can set them off.

“They’re not being view-ed as a life-saving appliance, but a nuisance,” he said.

In January, a 12-year-old girl awakened by a smoke detector got her family out of her burning G Street home, Trump noted. A male student at Crescent Elementary also got his family to safety after a smoke detector went off while everyone was asleep. Firefighters are particularly targeting young people in their fire prevention education efforts, and second-grade students at city elementary schools are given free smoke detectors.

“We have our highest success rate with the young,” he said.

“It’s brand new to them and they’re not jaded. They take it seriously.”

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Firefighters, Trump said, work to reach adults, too, at such places as home shows. They have also pushed using Daylight Saving Time changes as a reminder to change smoke detector batteries. But tackling adult indifference remains a problem.

“Unfortunately, it will often take a highly visible and really tragic event that could have been avoided,” he said. “Unfortunately, that’s what gets their attention.”

Smoke detectors, Trump said, cost $5 to $6 at most stores. For the elderly and disabled in the city, firefighters will install smoke detectors and change batteries, even providing the battery. They tried a program that gave smoke detectors away, but there was little interest.

“We have training videos in which a fire starts with something like a cigarette falling into the couch cushions,” he said. “It starts with a small flame and the house is soon engulfed in fire. They spread very, very rapidly. A fire doesn’t care if you’re inside or not.

“When people have died in fires, they have often been killed by the smoke and gases. They’re so thick and so toxic. The smoke detectors are designed to detect these in trace amounts. The alarm gives you the chance to exit before breathing in toxic air.

“It’s the cheapest insurance you can buy. It’s 5 to 10 dollars when you add in batteries. It’s a wonderful bargain.”

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Even though smoke detectors are required by law, enforcement is difficult — if not impossible.

Lt. Ernie Parsons, assistant city fire marshal, explained Fire Prevention Bureau personnel routinely inspect apartments, hotel rooms and college dormitories. They cannot inspect one- and two-family homes.

“It’s like seatbelt laws,” he said. “You can’t pull someone over just for a seatbelt. You have to pull them over for something else.”

Firefighters must hope for compliance and work to keep their message about how smoke detectors save lives in the public eye, Parsons said.

“It’s dangerous not to have them, and you would hope people would have them — and maintain them,” he said. “But it’s hard enough to get them to change the batteries.

“You just have to stay in their faces. You have to remind them through the media and through education in schools. You do wonder how much of what you do (in schools) filters back. Is this being relayed to the parents?”

— E-mail: apridemore@ register-herald.com