Don’t wait to be ready for house fires

We often take note of Fire Prevention Month each October, as fire departments around the region schedule events aimed at reinforcing a crucial safety message.

But circumstances this summer demand that we not wait to remind people that home fire preparedness needs to be a top priority in every household.

On June 21, Bernadette Norton, 47, a Reading School District elementary counselor, her husband, Joseph, and their 14-year-old son were fatally injured when they became trapped in their smokefilled Pottstown home during an early morning fire. Officials have not announced what caused the fire.

On July 18, an overnight fire killed Henry J. Fordham III, 77, the leader of a Seventh-day Adventists conference in this region, and his wife, Sharon, in their Amity Township home.

And the city of Reading has been hit with one devastating fire after another over the last few months. The most recent tragedy occurred July 29 when Cahterine M. Dingle, 32, and several of her children were trapped on the second floor of their burning row home in the 900 block of Muhlenberg Street. Three people died of injuries suffered in that blaze, including 2-year-old Alza’y Torres and 9-year-old Christian Torres. A 7-year-old was hospitalized. Officials said the fire was caused by combustible elements placed in or near a microwave oven

On May 29, a 74-year-old disabled man, Eustaquio Torres Cruz, died of smoke inhalation after a fire in his northeast Reading home. It started when a dog knocked over a lit candle that was placed on the floor. Other occupants tried to put out the fire themselves before calling 9-1-1.

And on June 9, Wayne Eidson, 68, died of thermal burns, smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning after a fire in his secondfloor downtown apartment. It started as a stove fire, and investigators said it appears Eidson tried to contain the fire himself.

Perhaps it was a sign of trouble that there was a fatal fire that killed two people in Reading on Jan. 2, shortly after the year began.

It’s been a shockingly terrible year for fire fatalities, and it has left even veteran first responders shaken.

But unlike so many of the other troubling things we see happening in the news, there is something each of us can do to reduce the likelihood of such tragedies.

First and foremost is making sure there are working smoke detectors on each floor of the home.

Several of the aforementioned fires took place in homes without working smoke detectors. And 60 people died across the U.S. in the first seven months of this year due to missing or nonworking smoke alarms, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.

If you don’t have smoke alarms, get them. Contact your local fire department or the American Red Cross if you need help acquiring or installing one.

Those who do have smoke detectors should test them monthly. Press the test button. If you don’t hear three beeps, then change the batteries. And replace smoke alarms that are more than 10 years old, since the equipment loses sensitivity over time.

Be sure to have a plan for what to do if there is a fire, and that everyone in the house understands it. Smoke alarms buy valuable time to escape before smoke and flames become too much to overcome. The longer you’re in the house, the more dangerous it becomes. Seconds count.

And on that note, do not try to extinguish a fire on your own before calling 9-1-1. Focus on getting out and let the firefighters extinguish the blaze.

Don’t leave food unattended on the stove or cook while intoxicated, and avoid placing lit candles anywhere near flammable objects.

Perhaps you’ve heard these messages before, but they bear repeating. There’s an unfortunate tendency for people to assume these tragedies won’t happen to them, and thus they don’t prepare for the possibility. The sad truth is that it can happen to anyone. Take steps to prevent fires and to know what to do if one does strike your home. The alternative is unspeakable.