BELLA VISTA — Fire Prevention Week (Oct. 4-10) might be over for this year, but that doesn’t mean we can let our guard down.

I just finished reading a tragic story in my hometown newspaper of Parkersburg, W. Va., about three people - 26, 21 and 11 months - who died in a house fire earlier this month.

The fire chief said there were no visible signs of smoke detectors in the one-story, woodframe home, although he admitted the building suffered extensive damage and perhaps firefighters just hadn’t found them yet.

The home was a rental, which means, at least in West Virginia and many other states, the owner was required to provide the detectors. According to the article I read, the owner said the home had the devices at one time, but he didn’t know if they were in place when the renters moved in.

This is such a tragic story that didn’t have to happen.

It even said in the piece that the fire department offers the detectors at no charge, and in most cases will help install them if the homeowner cannot do it.

There is absolutely no excuse for not having working smoke detectors and, for that matter, carbon monoxide detectors in the home.

Do you have them?

How many do you have?

Where are they located?

Are they property installed and maintained? Specifically, are the batteries changed at least once, if not twice, annually? This should be done when the time changes in both the spring and the fall to make it easy to remember.

In researching for this article, I went to several Web sites, chief among them the National Fire Protection Association (www.nfpa.org), and I found these two little tidbits of information:

◊Almost two-thirds of reported home fire deaths in 2003-06 resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms; and

◊About one-third of home fires and deaths happened in the months of December, January and February.

I don’t know what more we can say about the first one. Two-thirds - that’s a lot of fires where injuryor death could have been prevented had there been operational devices installed.

As for the second one, have you looked at a calendar lately? It’s mid-October. It won’t be long now until we are in that bad three-month period when one-third of the home fires and deaths occur.

So what can you do? Well, there are many things.

If you plan to use alternative heat sources, such as space heaters or kerosene heaters, keep this in mind:

◊In 2006, heatingequipment fires accounted for 16 percent of all reported home fires - second behind cooking - and 21 percent ofhome fire deaths.

◊More than half of all heating-related fire deaths in 2003-06 resulted from fires in December, January and February - there are those three months again. (NFPA)

◊Space heaters result in far more fires and losses than central-heating devices and have higher risks relative to usage. (NFPA)

◊Fixed or portable space heaters were involved in 4 percent of home fires and 17 percent of home fire deaths. (NFPA)

Do you have a fireplace? If you use it, when was the last time you had a professional clean it?And I don’t mean your brother-on-law on a Sunday afternoon after he’s had a few cold ones.

The NFPA recommends that you have the chimney inspected and cleaned once a year. Generally speaking, the inspection should be done before you use the fireplace for the first time each year.

Experts say it is important to have a sturdy screen in front of the burning fire in order to stop sparks or exploding embers from flying into the room and starting a fire.

They also say it is imperative that you let ashes cool before disposing of them, then place them in a metal container away from any combustible material. I know it sounds so simple, but how many times have we heard of a fire that began when the homeowner put ashes that he thought were cold into a cardboard box on the wooden deck? Way too many times, I am afraid.

Let’s go back to those smoke detectors for a moment. Remember earlier when I asked howmany do you have and were they placed correctly? Well, according to our friends at the NFPA, you should install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home. You should also test them monthly.

Now that you have made your home safer with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, not burned anything in the fireplace until the chimney is cleaned and inspected by a pro and have taken all the precautions recommended for using alternative heat sources, what will you do in the event of a fire?Where will you go? How will your family know where to find you?

You must have an escape plan, one that everybody is familiar with and everybody has practiced. Make one today. You never know when you might need it.

Common sense is your best friend when it comes to fire safety. You know not to allow an open flame to get too close to combustible materials, you know all about the proper use and storage of volatile fuels such as kerosene, you know not to run generators inside the home and to make sure they are well ventilated, you know about the dangers of candles, smoking and the use of an open flame - you know all of these things. Yet even armed with all of that knowledge, we see thousands of people die in fires each year - 3,320 in 2008 alone. There were more than 16,500 fire injuries that year, according to the NFPA.

Yes, we all know what we are supposed to do, but all it takes is one lax moment, one simple mistake or misjudgment, and we lose it all.

So, as we move closer and closer to winter and the cold days and evencolder nights, let’s think about what we’re doing.

Let’s not leave that candle burning unsupervised. Let’s make sure that chimney is clean and ready to go. Let’s not burn anything other than what the stove or fireplace is supposed to burn - no Christmas boxes or wrapping paper. Let’s not put that space heater too close to the drapes or other flammable material.

Let’s make sure this is a safe and quiet (fire wise) winter. Do it for yourself and your family.

Douglas Grant is managing editor of The Weekly Vista. He has been a journalist since 1987 and worked in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida.

Opinion, Pages 6 on 10/21/2009

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