Auburn fire that left 21 homeless example of need for working smoke detectors (Your letters)

To the Editor:

Monday’s early morning fire in Auburn, which resulted in 21 people being displaced, including 11 children, is a telling example of the importance of having working smoke alarms in your home. Luckily no lives were lost in this fire, but significant damage to the building occurred and now nearly two dozen people are without their homes.

Fire officials at the scene have determined that the apartment at 203 Jane St., was not equipped with a working smoke alarm. In fact, the alarms were found to have missing batteries, a common occurrence and completely avoidable.

The residents at this address were notified of the fire by a neighboring tenant whose alarm sounded due to the smoke condition.

Credit to this quick thinking neighbor, but if not for their actions, this situation could have been much worse. Too often we as firefighters are called to respond to fires where injuries and fatalities could have sadly been avoided – and too often we find that people remove the batteries from their smoke alarms and never replace them.

FASNY is supporting legislation requiring batteries in battery-operated smoke alarms be non-replaceable, non-removable and to last for at least ten years. Simply put, this legislation, introduced by State Assembly Member Joseph Morelle and State Senator John Flanagan, will make New Yorkers safer.

The statistics don’t lie: 60 percent of all home fire deaths occur with no smoke alarm or no working smoke alarm. A working alarm is like a personal siren, alerting you and your family to an emergency, allowing you time to escape.

Ken Pienkowski
First Vice President of the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York