North Lincoln Fire Rescue responded to a house fire on SE Oar Avenue early Friday morning, complicated by non-working smoke alarms.
According to NLFR Fire Marshal Cody Heidt, firefighters saw flames coming through the roof of a home located at 427 SE Oar Avenue, when they arrived at 5:15 a.m. The situation was immediately deemed a defensive fire, which means fire personnel fought it from the outside before sending anyone inside. Fire crews were able to get the fire under control after an involved battle and prevent it from spreading. After deeming the home no longer posed any fire danger, crews left at 12:28 p.m.
Fire officials said nobody was home at the time of the fire and no loss of life occurred.
The cause of the fire is still under under investigation by the fire marshal’s office, but Heidt did say smoke alarms inside the home were not working. He said it was the third fire in a row where smoke alarms were not able to do their job. The fire marshal wants to make sure people know how important it is to have a smoke alarm that will allow the fire department to arrive earlier and possibly save lives.
Smoke alarms only work, when they are working if someone is there to hear them.
I see no logic in claiming the fire was complicated by non operational smoke
alarms.
As a random handyman, and resident in a house, I have noticed a couple things
about fire alarms. All smoke detectors should be battery operated and not hard
wired. It’s a simple thing to replace a battery, and why do all smoke alarms
only take 10 dollar 9 volt batteries? That never seem to last the 10 years advertised on the package.
After years and years of having our smoke detectors go off unexpectedly, we hired an electrician to come, check them out, order the newest styles that you do not replace batteries. They have a huge warranty. He also had the firemen come up and check our house out for any electrical problems. Thanks to him, we are free of these noisy things going off and needing tall ladders to replace the batteries. Problem solved.
That house was supposed to be unoccupied. The transient that was staying there was visited the night before by the police telling her to vacate. There was no power or running water. The gas had not been turned off yet. Has there been any update on the cause of a fire started in the main bedroom?