After fatal Somers blaze, officials urge public to practice fire safety
House fires can spread quickly, often leaving residents no more than a minute or two after a smoke alarm sounds to escape.
The fast-moving fire in Somers a week ago in which four children died, started at the foot of the stairs on one side of a duplex, blocking escape through the front door. A kitchen table, according to fire officials, obstructed the back door.
The investigation into the blaze is ongoing and details have not emerged about how the fire started, how residents may have prepared for an emergency or how they reacted when the blaze broke out, but Somers Fire Chief John Roache said Monday that most people don’t realize how quickly fire spreads.
“I think it caught everyone in that house off guard,” Roache said. “I think they thought they had a little more time than they actually had.”
The house was equipped with smoke detectors, he said. A neighbor opened the front door and tried to douse the fire with a small extinguisher, the chief said, but the blaze was too intense and the neighbor had to back off after suffering burns.
Experts say that in only 31⁄2 minutes, a house fire can reach 1,100 degrees in rooms that are burning and 300 degrees — far above the boiling point of water and hot enough to melt plastic — in adjacent rooms. When air is hot enough, according to the National Fire Protection Association, one breath can kill.
Roache noted that smoke travels well ahead of a fire and is an even greater hazard than flames. The children who died in the Somers fire succumbed to smoke inhalation and burns, a spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said. Lack of oxygen from smoke inhalation accounts for most fire fatalities, experts say.
Also, blocked doors and windows that prevent residents’ escape may impede firefighters’ entry into a burning house, Manchester Fire Chief Daniel French said. A firefighter for 26 years in Waterbury and nine in Manchester, French stressed he has no knowledge of the Somers fire, but said he has seen situations where furniture, boxes, piles of clothing and other items in front of doors made fire rescues more difficult.
And French noted that while the state mandates annual inspections of all multifamily homes of three units and more, duplexes and single-family homes are not included in the requirement, so firefighters typically do not know what they will face in those homes.
State police fire investigator Sgt. Paul Makuc, who is not investigating the Somers fire, said people often get used to using one door and don’t think about another entry that can become blocked off with furniture and other items.
“I think there’s always some improvements that everybody can do when it comes to clearing exits,” Makuc said.
That includes clearing snow and ice from walkways and fire hydrants, he said.
The National Fire Protection Association advises these steps for residents:
• Install smoke alarms in every sleeping room and outside each sleeping area. Install alarms on every level of the home.
• Clear escape routes of anything that blocks doors and windows.
• Gather everyone in the household and make a plan. Households with children should consider drawing a floor plan of the home, marking two ways out of each room, including windows and doors.
• Choose an outside meeting place a safe distance from the front of the home where everyone can meet after escaping.
• Make sure your house number is clearly visible from the road.
• Hold home fire drills to practice the escape plan.
• Every family member must be able to escape from second-floor rooms. Escape ladders can be placed in or near windows to provide an additional escape route.
• In households with infants, older adults, and family members with mobility limitations, make sure someone is assigned to help them in an emergency.
• If windows or doors have security bars, make sure the bars have emergency release devices inside.