After Philadelphia fire, state officials urge checking smoke detectors

After a fire ripped through a public housing unit in Philadelphia, killing 12 people on Wednesday, fire officials in Connecticut are urging residents to take precautions.

Fire officials in Philadelphia said the fire broke out around 6:30 a.m. in the area of the Fairmount neighborhood, near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and its famous steps from the “Rocky” film. Officials said eight children and four adults were found dead. The incident marked the city’s deadliest fire in more than a century, according to the Associated Press.

Craig Murphy, the first deputy fire commissioner in Philadelphia, said none of the four smoke alarms appeared to be working at the time of the blaze, the AP reported. The Philadelphia Housing Authority told the AP that at least two of the smoke detectors were replaced in 2020, with batteries replaced in the other two at that time. The PHA said the alarms were inspected yearly, with the last inspection in May 2020.

In the wake of the fire, Alan Zygmunt, program manager at the Connecticut Fire Academy in Windsor Locks, offered thoughts and prayers to the families and friends of the victims, as well as to the fire crews that responded to the call.

Zygmunt, who is a fire service instructor and handles the academy’s public education programs, said the deadly fire serves as a reminder of how important it is to check smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to ensure they’re working properly.

He urged residents to regularly practice a family escape plan to make sure each person knows how to safely and quickly escape a home in case of a fire — and to have a set meeting place outside for everyone to gather.