Red Embers

This week we celebrate fire prevention week, as we do in the first full week of October of every year. Schools will join with their local fire service professionals and kids will bring home fire safety checklists and escape plans. Some may even exercise their escape plans and run through the house with checklists in hand. Nothing scares parents more than the thought of not being able to save their children from a fire. House fires in 2008 were down 3% from the previous year, but there were still more than half a million of them. There were still nearly 3,000 civilian fire deaths last year, the majority of those deaths among small children and the elderly. When you think about it, fires are taking our future and our wisdom. I don’t think we can afford to lose either.

People shake their heads saying things like, “What a shame,” when people die in fires. This is done with an attitude of helplessness and sadly, relief (that it wasn’t them). And this is part of the problem. We see news stories about death from fire every day and and think, “Those poor people.” But when you turn it on them and ask what they would do if it were them, you get a blank stare and answers like, “We’re very careful,” and “We have working smoke detectors.” Being careful and having smoke detectors that work are very important, and these preventative steps are highly important to the safety of your family. Let’s face it, the two largest causes of single family home fires continues to be careless cooking and smoking.

There are two reasons for the reduction of fire deaths in the country. Fire prevention activities in construction and awareness is the biggest. Fires overall, not just structure fire, were down about 7%. There are less forest fires and less car fires by 7% and 9% respectively, but house fires, where we live and sleep and are most vulnerable, are only down 3%. We’re not being as careful as we should be. Another smaller reason for less deaths is that emergency medical care and burn care continue to improve. There were almost 15,000 civilian fire injuries last year. There are few injuries that cause such negative lifelong life changes as burn injuries. Simply put, burns scar for life. Our homes aren’t as safe as we’d like to think. No one affected by a fire injury or death went to bed wanting that to happen. How many times have you misplaced your car keys? Forgotten to grab something at the store? Left the toaster plugged in? Most fires are caused by simple mind slips we’re all guilty of from time to time.

We’re all careful. We change the batteries in our smoke detectors. We have fire drills. We cook carefully and make sure our smoking materials are all the way out. We don’t let ourselves forget fire safety things!!! That’s all well and good fire prevention, but it doesn’t solve all of the problems. Cooking causes 40% of the fires but only 17% of the deaths. Why? Because usually we’re awake and alert when we cook. Careless smoking accounts for a whopping quarter of all fire deaths! So, smoke outside. Make sure all smoking materials are completely extinguished before retiring or leaving. Never smoke in bed. Do all of those things - they’re excellent ways to change that horrible statistic.

Now for the scary part. The fire service tends to spend the most time educating the public on the greatest dangers. But we may have missed the bus in one very serious area.  Only a quarter of the fires in 2008 involved some sort of equipment failure in the house - whether it be electrical or heating related. But those fires caused 35% of the fire deaths and almost 20% of the injuries. That statistic tells us that heating equipment and electrical fires are much more likely to kill us than simply cause us harm. Many of these deaths occurred during the night, when home occupants are most likely to be sleeping. Ah, but you have working smoke detectors and who hasn’t read the adage, “Smoke detectors save lives?”

The truth is, smoke detectors do NOT save lives. They enable the saving of lives, surely, but the existence of an uncontrolled fire requires a response from people inside and out to make a difference. That smoke detector can make all the noise it wants; if no one responds to the alarm, lives will not be saved. If the occupants do not, or worse, cannot, move themselves to safety, then the smoke detector can’t take credit as a savior. Last week, in a county to my north, a tragedy occurred. An elderly grandfather, who suffered paralysis from a stroke, died in a house fire. The smoke detector worked. The caretaker even responded and tried her best to move the man, but did not have the strength. Neighbors tried to help, but couldn’t get to him - the fire had grown too large too quickly. This is not a unique story. In fact, the story is all too common. The names change and the reason for inability to respond are somewhat different, but the helplessness of it all is oh so common. We aren’t helpless, though. In fact, the smart people who decide what houses should be like when they’re built, have already found and are trying to institute the solution!

Residential fire sprinkler systems SAVE LIVES! And they don’t require the occupants to do a thing. The International Residential Building Code is the adopted building code throughout most jurisdictions in the United States for single family and two-unit homes. In it is the requirement that a residential fire sprinkler system be installed in all new construction. Many areas, including my home state have deleted this requirement from the building codes adopted. Naturally one would ask why such a common sense idea would be deleted from the codes.The biggest opponent, and a large one they are, are the home builders organizations throughout the country. Their sole major argument against residential fire sprinklers is that they would add about 10% to 15% to the cost of a new home. Their argument is a little bit true. In a smaller home, say three or four bedrooms in one or two stories, the additional cost would be about 10% to 15%. In studies conducted in areas where sprinklers are and are not required, and in the same economic zones, the up cost was more like 3% to 5%. They argue that any increases in building costs would further suppress new home starts in a sagging economy. Those same home builders think NOTHING of talking home buyers into granite counter tops and European appliances, or marble floors, upscale toilets, whirlpools and shower towers. These upgrades can all, by themselves, add easily the same percentage points to new house construction costs. And they don’t protect a single life. The minor argument is that fire sprinklers are ugly. Fire sprinkler heads hide in recessed pockets in the ceiling, and only activate when subjected to fire (only the head or heads in the area of the fire will come on, too. They don’t all come on at once). They hide nicely behind a circular disk. I wouldn’t call it stylish, but neither is an electrical outlet, and you couldn’t build a house without a few of those.

What can you do? If you’re building a new house, put the marble and granite samples aside and insist on a fire sprinkler system first. Even if you’re not building, statistics prove that most people will move and upgrade their housing in their lifetimes. Wouldn’t you feel like you’re making a real upgrade if your new home has fire sprinklers installed? Encourage your local officials to pass ordinances requiring fire sprinklers in residential homes. If enough of the country does that, the new code will stick and soon, as with vehicle air bags in the 1980’s, everyone will be doing it!

Many dread renovations. I know I do. I’m right in the middle of a good sized one. We’re moving rooms around to make the house more livable, and it’s been quite a chore. We have a duplex, and my parents own the other unit in the building, so it’s been a joint effort to modernize a building that has seen three additions, a new foundation and several changes over its more than 75 years of service. Dad grew up in the house and so did I, so it’s more than “just a house.” It’s our home… our little chunk of the American Dream. As you can imagine, there are parts of the building that are one age, another section another and so on. This makes for quite a mix where utilities are concerned. Dad and I are both plumbers, so at least that part of the house has grown with the times (stopping just short of the junk that passes for plumbing today).

We are not, however, electricians, and it shows. My daughters want fans in their bedrooms. My wife wants undercounter lighting in the new kitchen. I just want a place to park my laptop that doesn’t share its space with the dinner dishes. Rick doesn’t really care, but he’s the accessory noise maker in the house - everyone has one of those. He likes loud music, loud video games and loud video games with loud music in them. So, we care… we’re considering how much trouble a sound-proof vault would be to install. Barring that, we’ll just give him a place he can call his own as well.

All of those things are important and will add to our happiness. Other folks renovate as well, for much the same reasons. As I look around my local area and conduct rental inspections, it never ceases to amaze me the amount of money that is spent every year in major repairs and remodeling that doesn’t include updating the fire protection system. Bedrooms are enlarged, rearranged completely and new light fixtures with adjoining bathrooms are installed. But when you look up, the only thing you see on the ceiling is the sparkling new ceiling fan (with remote control, auto reverse, five speed settings and a dimmer for the light). No smoke detector mars the ceilingscape. Ask them why they did all of those renovations and didn’t add a smoke detector, and many of the rental unit owners will say, “This bedroom’s not required to have a smoke detector… The house was built in the 1970’s.” Then he brings me to the door to the hall, points outside and says, “We’re covered… We have one out here.” It’s hard to argue with that logic. Up on the ceiling in the hallway sits a tired, 10 year-old battery operated smoke detector.

As I said, we’re doing some pretty extensive renovations, but we can’t renovate past 50% of the value of the house due to our building being below a point on a measuring stick and being in a tidal flood plain. We could have put all of our renovation money into making the house as slick and neat as we could, and we’ll do that with the exception of about $500.00. That’s how much it’s going to cost us to upgrade the smoke detector system in the house to a fully hardwired, with battery backup, interconnected system. It’s worth every penny, and our electrician is doing it while he’s completing all of the other challenges we’ve set on his plate. In addition to brand new smoke detectors, the common areas will also get combination smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. With a full natural gas house, it’s without question the proper thing to do. Even being plumbers, we’re not perfect, and neither is technology.

So, considering redoing that old bedroom? Why not add a hardwired smoke detector while you’ve got the drywall all down?

Everyone likes toys. Firefighters are known globally for their love of big kid toys. If it’s new, we’ve got to have one (at least). Even with bad toys you can usually come up with something good to say about them. But some novelties, marketed like toys, are causing quite a ruckus in the fire service community. So much so in fact that during National Arson Awareness Week, the United States Fire Administration is focusing on a toy novelty that kids are finding more than a little attractive. The theme for this year’s Arson Awareness Week, which runs from today until this weekend, is “Toylike Lighters – Playing with Fire.”They’re out there and they look innocent. They look like little $0.50 trinkets from a supermarket gumball machine. That cute doggie she has her diary key on… That toy skateboard your son is doing finger tricks with, could in actuality be a butane lighter.

These things are causing fires at unprecedented rates for new fire starting devices. In fact, it’s so bad that the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) is collecting fire cause data specifically focusing on fires started with toy novelty lighters. Data already proves that children using lighters cause as many fires as matches. In fact, some studies have shown that lighters are the preferred ignition source.

Now you might not even be able to tell that you child is in possession of a lighter.

Who would ever expect a skateboard that makes fire? Lighters that look like a butterfly or a poker chip are out there where our kids can put their hands on them.

Fires caused by children playing with fire starting devices are called child-play fires. This is the technical term. Most kids that start fires, indeed a great majority of them, had no intention of harming anyone or anything beyond what they burned initially. Kids have a really hard time understanding the dynamics of combustion, and the speed of fire spread, especially when combustibles are nearby. In 2002 there were approximately 13,900 fires started by kids playing with fire. That’s a one-year total. Those fires caused $339 million in direct damage, 1,250 civilian injuries, and sadly 210 civilian fire deaths (many times to themselves or family members). Another thing that adults don’t often know is that the median age (average) of the juvenile fire setter is 5 years-old. That’s no typo. Even worse, the median age for fatal fire victims of child-play fires is 4 years old. They’re killing their peers. The median age for injuries in nonfatal juvenile arson fires is the middle to late teens. So it’s the little ones that pay the ultimate price when little kids start fires.

I encourage all of my readers to visit this site: http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/subjects/arson/arson_awareness.shtm

Print out the Arson Awareness Week Media Kit and share it with your schools and nursery schools! That’s right, the nursery school moms and dads need to know and share this information.

There can be no question about fire’s attraction to kids. As we become more technologically advanced, it seems that kids are even more drawn to fire. Perhaps it is that our society has become so sterile that our children don’t really learn how important it is to fear and stay away from fire. They don’t have to empty the coal pail as our forebearers did. As if we already didn’t have enough to do, now we have to double check our children’s toys. Make sure there’s not a torch in the toybox next to the toy fire extinguisher… or is it?

It came over the radio as a blue arc flame coming from an electrical outlet in the living room. We arrived to no fire, but a scary scene. The bright white walls were scorched and scarred black under the front window - the focal point of the living room. We all have them. The electrical outlet that’s just a tick loose. It pushes when you put a plug into it, and pulls out when you disconnect. You don’t think much of it, do you? I have to admit that I’ve neglected some of my own, but I checked them all as soon as I got home today.

The homeowner was lucky. First of all she had no furniture in front of the outlet. Secondly, she didn’t try to pull the plug back out when she plugged the stereo in and it flashed. When I was finished with the investigation, it was obvious what caused the short circuit that could have burnt her house down. These are my favorite types of investigations. There’s actually enough material left to make a good determination. The circuit in question also fed several other outlets, including an outside outlet. Today that would have been a ground fault protected circuit, but that’s a blog for another day. The hot wire was strip connected in series into the outlet, so the outlet being loose caused a serious problem. Every time the owner or an occupant plugged in something, the outlet moved, the wire rocked in it’s contact channel and the screw securing the wire to the outlet loosened a micron. This happened over about 25 years until today the outlet rocked against the steel electrical box inside the wall and it shorted. The outlet blew off it’s bottom end and threw a blue flame about a foot and a half into the room. The owner was terrified, but she appparently wasn’t terrified enough not to reset the breaker and try to give the outlet power again. Don’t ask me why she would do such a thing, but that’s what happened. Lo and behold, another big arc occurred before the breaker once again tripped out.

The fire engine company arrived and determined with the thermal imaging camera that nothing had caught fire inside the wall, then the guys turned the scene over to me for investigation. The burnt out outlet told me a couple of things that I want to share with you.

First, never ever restore power to a component that has arced without replacing the failed piece. It’s not like a headache. Problems with electrical parts do not fix themselves in my experience, and arc flashing is fatal to whatever took the high energy electrical hit. Have your electrician go over your system in it’s entirety before restoring power to any section that suffered a failure of any kind.

Secondly, if you have any electrical outlets or switches that are loose, broken or seem to intermittently cause problems, get them fixed now. Don’t wait to let the lightning out of the clouds. All it takes is the right (or wrong) move to begin an arc flash incident and serious injury or property damage can occur. The same goes for loose boxes, broken switch and outlet plates and non-working GFI outlets.

Electrical wiring and contacts don’t like to come loose. One thing that always comes back to me whenever I talk about electricity is that you can compare it to water, except that you can see the water. Electrical wires are the pipes that electrical current passes through. You wouldn’t leave a leaking faucet or loose toilet go for very long. Think the same way about your electrical system.

Finally, if you find loose cover plates on your electrical outlets and you feel comfortable doing a little work on your own, get that screwdriver out and get to work. Just a little twist to tighten up those plates could make all the difference in the world.

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