- Author
- Perrault, M. E.
- Title
- Home Security and Fire Safety Meeting Report, August 14-15, 1994, Quincy, Massachusetts.
- Sponsor
- National Fire Protection Assoc., Quincy, MA
- Report
- Meeting Report, December 1994, 22 p.
- Keywords
- fire safety | statistics | education | single family dwellings
- Identifiers
- home security; security bars; Learn Not to Burn Foundation
- Abstract
- Because of a rising fear of crime, more and more citizens are blockaging themselves inside their homes, often with illegal and ill-conceived security bars. In attempting to protect their families and properties by locking out intruders, they may be inadvertently locking themselves into potentially life-threatening situations. Despite a downward trend in overall fire deaths, the number of fire deaths related to illegal security bars is on the rise. An average of less than one fire death per year was attributed to illegal gates or locks for the years 1980 through 1985. This average increased dramatically to nearly 16 deaths a year for the period between 1986 and 1991. In 1988, five people perished in an incendiary fire in a single-family dwelling in Texas and in 1989 anaother four lives were lost, also in Texas. Six people perished in a 1990 Florida fire. In 1993 seven children died in a Detroit house fire and eight family members perished in Mississippi. In all of these incidents, security bars on windows and locked doors prevented escape from the fire and also inhibited fire fighters' rescue attempts.