Recent Deaths Troubling WA Fire Officials

Lewis County has in the last few years experienced what one fire official called an unusually high number of fire-related deaths.

Eleven people died in Lewis County house fires between 2015, 2016 and 2017, and among them there were three triple-fatality fires, bucking a trend that says most fatal fires result in one death.

“It says somewhere or other we’re not reaching our audience with the messages that we have,” said Rick Mack, Assistant Fire Chief with Riverside Fire Authority.

Mack, who met with the Chronicle alongside other local fire experts and first responders to talk about safety practices, said such sobering statistics are a motivator to put fire-related information immediately into the public’s hands.

“Fire fatalities in Lewis County experienced in the last several years has been eye-opening. It has caused me to want to get out and engage and talk about what causes fires, what we can do to protect our families and our homes where we’re supposed to feel safest,” he said, noting that the common denominator in fatal fires in the past three years has been non-functional smoke detectors and a lack of a home escape plan.

Mack said smoke detectors should be in all bedrooms and outside sleeping areas with at least one per floor. Lewis County Fire District 5 Chief Laura Hanson said they should be replaced if they’re 10 years old. When kids are off from school during the Christmas season and the family’s all together, this represents a good time to practice a fire escape plan, she said, ensuring that there are two planned escape routes and a meeting place to go after getting out of the house.

Kevin Reynolds, with the Chehalis Fire Department, said ongoing research by fire safety experts has only strengthened the adage: “close before you doze.” Meaning, close your bedroom door before you fall asleep.

“Closed doors save lives, period. There is no argument that I have ever heard in my life that’s … an argument against closed doors save lives,” he said.

Doing so buys a few precious minutes of time to escape, Reynolds said, as a closed door slows oxygen from getting to the fire and spreading into the room, as well as drops temperatures and carbon monoxide levels.

Arguments to the contrary don’t stack up, he said. That being said, Underwriters Laboratory — an entity that has put large amounts of time and research into fire safety — has determined that less than 50 percent of adults think it’s safer to sleep with a door open, said Reynolds.

He added that this is simply not the case. Fires very rarely start in bedrooms, and a closed door keeps dangerous elements at bay longer than an open doorway. Smoke detector placement should allow for people asleep in a house to wake up with their door closed.

If you leave the room to escape the fire, close the door behind you, he said. That cuts off more oxygen to feed the fire, and will help responding fire fighters to put out the blaze when they arrive.

While the No. 1 cause of house fires is cooking, the months of December, January and February see a large influx in fires caused by heating sources, said Lieutenant Patrick Jacobson with Lewis County Fire District 15. A national average shows that one in six fires during the winter months is caused by heating, and local fires have done nothing to challenge that statistic.

Keep items that could catch fire three feet away from heating sources, he said. Some local fires have started from heat lamps — like when someone is raising baby chickens inside a house. Make sure to keep heat lamps out of the house, and ensure they’re secure.

Only use one space heater per outlet, and don’t plug them into surge protectors.

“Having a well-prepared, practiced plan can mean the difference in life and death,” said Mack.

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