- Author
-
Shapiro, J. M.
|
Carpenter, D. J., Jr.
|
Schaenman, P. S.
|
Stambaugh, H.
- Title
- Four House Fires That Killed 28 Children. USFA Fire Investigation Technical Report Series.
- Coporate
- TriData Corp., Arlington, VA
- Sponsor
- Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC
- Report
-
Report 020,
1989,
85 p.
- Contract
- EMW-86-C-2277
- Keywords
-
home fires
|
children
|
death
|
adults
|
smoke detectors
|
wooden structures
|
escape means
- Identifiers
- overcrowing of housing
- Abstract
- INDIVIDUAL FIRES: (1) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 30, 1987, 10 Children, 2 Adults (2) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 15, 1987, 6 Children (3) Prince Georges County, Maryland, November 26, 1987, 6 Children (4) Pleasantville, Ohio, December 18, 1987, 6 Children In the last quarter of 1987, four fires inthree communities killed 28 children and two adults. Each fire shocked its community. The basic lessons were similar, and common to many other fires: (a) There were no working smoke detectors; (b) The houses were overcrowded at the time of the fire, which hindered escape; (c) Wooden, non-compartmented construction allowed rapid fire and smoke sprea; and (d) Lack of escape planning and practice and lack of general fire prevention education characterized most of the victims. The Summary of Key Issues chart on the following page shows a more detailed comparison of the key aspects of these four fires. Three of the fires exemplify the largest and least easily solved fire safety problem in the United States -- overcrowded homes in poor neighborhoods where the people have had little or no fire safety education and do not maintain smoke detectors. The fourth fire shows it can happen elsewhere, too. Together they represent high hazards that working detectors and escape plans can reduce.