Feb 18, 2009 6:01 pm US/Eastern
Firefighters Preach Fire Prevention
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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More than 1,500 house fires occur in Baltimore every year.
CBS
More than 1,500 house fires occur in Baltimore every year. Many of those are in the winter.
As
Gigi Barnett reports, firefighters say most of them are preventable and they want to target the dangers before fires start.
Last November,
Sky Eye Chopper 13 was over a two-alarm fire that destroyed an East Baltimore rowhouse, killing a grandmother and granddaughter asleep inside.
Firefighters did not find a smoke detector in the home during the investigation.
A few days later, a fire swept through a Northeast Baltimore home. The building was destroyed and vacant.
Three days later, the fire and flames at an East Baltimore house trapped a man inside. He was able to escape.
Firefighters say it's a series of events that could be prevented but many people aren't taking the steps to guard against fires.
"Recently we had two fire deaths on the east side of the city. It was unfortunate because it wasn't that folks were careless about their safety. They had barred windows, they had a state-of-the-art security system and security lights, but they didn't have one working smoke alarm," said Deputy Chief Ray O'Brocki.
So the fire department is teaming up with the health department and Johns Hopkins University to teach homeowners how to stay safe.
"The number one cause of fires in the country is unattended cooking, so you really have to watch what you heat," O'Brocki said.
That's one of the top tips. You should also inspect heating units, eliminate smoking in the home, have an escape plan and install smoke alarms. Also, you should make sure those alarms work, especially during the winter months, when more fires occur.
"A smoke alarm that has dead batteries or no batteries at all provides no protection," said Eileen McDonald.
Every year, home fires kill more people than all other natural disasters combined.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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