I debated if I should use this one, but I decided the message was too strong.
The grandfather of three girls trapped in their burning home on Christmas morning died as he climbed the roof to try to save one of them, officials revealed Tuesday. The girls and their grandmother also perished in what investigators concluded was a tragic accident started by fireplace embers…Sometime between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, a friend staying in the home put fireplace ashes in a bag and left it either in or outside a mudroom and trash enclosure attached to the rear of the house, said Barry Callahan, Stamford’s fire marshal. The fire was reported just after 4:40 a.m.
The news report also questions weather the house had working smoke detectors. I’m not sure if fire extinguishers could have helped given that the outbreak happened shortly after the family had retired to bed, so possibly when they knew something was wrong it was already out of the hands of amateur fire fighting.
Still we need to be careful with fires, both in the home, and outside, as it can be VERY deadly.
It’s a horrible accident, so I won’t get on my usual soapbox, I’ll just say be careful with your fires both in the home and on your property. Make sure ash is cool to the touch before discarding, or discard in a fireproof container when they are mostly cool, and keep the container clear of flammables, or just leave it in your fireplace or firebox. Also make sure your home has smoke detectors and their batteries are in good working order, also if you make fires in your home (and that includes your kitchen stove, or your home furnace or boiler!) make sure to have a fire extinguisher that’s in good working condition nearby and make sure you know how to use it.
h/t Wallphone
Even a fireproof container isn’t always enough.
When we had the chimney fire last year the fire marshall commented, and complimented, on two things, one was the fact that I was paying attention to the noises in my home (so that I caught the fire before it could do more than scorch the pipe), but the other was our ashes storage. We have a metal lidded can rhat we put them in, and that can is then set on the stone hearth till someone can take it out to empty. He did warn us though to make sure that we ALWAYS set it on the hearth and never anywhere else. He’d dealt with a fire a couple years previous where the home owner had a can like ours, but had set it on the back porch. There was enough heat left in the ashes to warm the bottom of the can, setting fire to the porch.
+1 Yeah we always had our closed steel container on the hearth. I guess I wasn’t 100% clear on that, as some might not think that a wooden floor or a deck might flash from the heat if all the ashes aren’t quenched.
I know we hadn’t really considered it. Can was on the hearth first for neatness sake and then because we DID notice that the sides would get a bit warm, so we figured better safe than sorry, but we hadn’t considered that it would really get hot enough to cause a problem.
I understand the reluctance to submit a horrible accident… there are two cases of toddlers hit and killed by cars so far this year in my town.
Yet, zero support for a 1,000 foot car-free zone around daycares and schools.
Just like an accident by unsecured firearm, (which the other side won’t hesitate to dance about) accidental household fire deaths can be mitigated by education about safety measures.