ANOTHER incident where 5 children die in a house fire

[Anonymous 1]

This time in Indiana. I suppose this one is somewhat better circumstance because the children were not home alone. Dad was there. But Dad couldn't get them out. He was standing outside. Article said Dad had minor injuries. Whatever. A 6th child inside rescued by firefighters has been flown to a pediatric burn center.

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/fi ... ouse-fire/

[Olioxenfree]

This is a horrible tragedy and anyone who wants to pretend they are better than this father who just lost five children, as if they could walk through flames to get to those kids, is disgusting.

[KendallsMom]

Praying for the family. How tragic.

[Traci_Momof2]

So horrific. It makes me wonder if fires are actually getting worse or if it just seems that way because of instant media about it. But the fact that both fires had multiple kids trapped upstairs by the fire - do we need to push PSA's about having fire escape ladders in every upper bedroom? Do we need to have public drives so people can get them for free? Is there some other way to design homes so that children don't get trapped like that?

I don't know what the answer is. I just think it's such a horrible way to die especially for children that there has to be something better we can do.

[Quorra2.0]

So horrific. It makes me wonder if fires are actually getting worse or if it just seems that way because of instant media about it. But the fact that both fires had multiple kids trapped upstairs by the fire - do we need to push PSA's about having fire escape ladders in every upper bedroom? Do we need to have public drives so people can get them for free? Is there some other way to design homes so that children don't get trapped like that?

I don't know what the answer is. I just think it's such a horrible way to die especially for children that there has to be something better we can do.

From the sounds of it the oldest child was 11 the youngest 17 months. Is fire safety not a thing anymore? Every house I’ve lived in we taught the kids how to exit to home and by which route depending on where a fire was. I also check our smoke detectors regularly and replace batteries regularly. How are these fires becoming so intense so quickly? Is this a risk with houses going up quickly? Cheaper building material or old houses that haven’t had things replaced that should be replaced?

[EarlGrayHot]

I would have walked through flames to get my daughter. In fact, I would go into a burning building to get my cats! And yes, I have smoke detectors which responsible people have and maintain.

[WellPreserved]

So horrific. It makes me wonder if fires are actually getting worse or if it just seems that way because of instant media about it. But the fact that both fires had multiple kids trapped upstairs by the fire - do we need to push PSA's about having fire escape ladders in every upper bedroom? Do we need to have public drives so people can get them for free? Is there some other way to design homes so that children don't get trapped like that?

I don't know what the answer is. I just think it's such a horrible way to die especially for children that there has to be something better we can do.

From the sounds of it the oldest child was 11 the youngest 17 months. Is fire safety not a thing anymore? Every house I’ve lived in we taught the kids how to exit to home and by which route depending on where a fire was. I also check our smoke detectors regularly and replace batteries regularly. How are these fires becoming so intense so quickly? Is this a risk with houses going up quickly? Cheaper building material or old houses that haven’t had things replaced that should be replaced?

We have house fires pretty often here this time of year, mainly in older homes. There are often deaths, not so many kids but elderly and pets. I was talking to some EMS on Tuesday night and they said that the main cause is use of an alternate heat source - kerosene, wood stove, propane, etc. A lot of people in older houses use those as well as those with heat pumps as heat pumps can't keep up with extreme cold temperatures. A lot of lower income people use them to keep their electric bills somewhat manageable.

They also indicated that many people don't realize that once a fire starts, an entire house can be engulfed in smoke in a matter of minutes. Often, it's the smoke that kills you, not the fire itself. Floor temperatures can be 100 degrees while chest level and higher can be over 800 degrees which often makes smoke detectors in operable, especially if are ceiling mounted.

Bottom line, which is kind of depressing, we can and should take all precautions necessary but sometimes they aren't going to save us.

[Quorra2.0]

So horrific. It makes me wonder if fires are actually getting worse or if it just seems that way because of instant media about it. But the fact that both fires had multiple kids trapped upstairs by the fire - do we need to push PSA's about having fire escape ladders in every upper bedroom? Do we need to have public drives so people can get them for free? Is there some other way to design homes so that children don't get trapped like that?

I don't know what the answer is. I just think it's such a horrible way to die especially for children that there has to be something better we can do.

From the sounds of it the oldest child was 11 the youngest 17 months. Is fire safety not a thing anymore? Every house I’ve lived in we taught the kids how to exit to home and by which route depending on where a fire was. I also check our smoke detectors regularly and replace batteries regularly. How are these fires becoming so intense so quickly? Is this a risk with houses going up quickly? Cheaper building material or old houses that haven’t had things replaced that should be replaced?

We have house fires pretty often here this time of year, mainly in older homes. There are often deaths, not so many kids but elderly and pets. I was talking to some EMS on Tuesday night and they said that the main cause is use of an alternate heat source - kerosene, wood stove, propane, etc. A lot of people in older houses use those as well as those with heat pumps as heat pumps can't keep up with extreme cold temperatures. A lot of lower income people use them to keep their electric bills somewhat manageable.

They also indicated that many people don't realize that once a fire starts, an entire house can be engulfed in smoke in a matter of minutes. Often, it's the smoke that kills you, not the fire itself. Floor temperatures can be 100 degrees while chest level and higher can be over 800 degrees which often makes smoke detectors in operable, especially if are ceiling mounted.

Bottom line, which is kind of depressing, we can and should take all precautions necessary but sometimes they aren't going to save us.

House fires are my biggest phobia. When I was 4, we had to get out of our house in the middle of the night. Our next door neighbor’s house was on fire. It was awful. He and his dog died. His wife was at work, his daughter was to be home with him, but she’d gone out. He was paraplegic and couldn’t get out on his own. Later I overheard people talking some said the daughter had her curling iron on and had accidentally thrown a towel on it before she left others said it was a cigarette that the towel had been thrown on. Idk what really happened but that’s what I remember the neighbors talking about with my parents days later. I unplug anything that doesn’t need to be on continuous electric, I make sure no open flames even candles left unattended and out of reach of the dogs, have multiple evacuation plans, more smoke detectors than rooms, and spray down the yard when grilling or firework season. One of the worst phobias to have because there’s no way to 100% prevent and have a small bit of piece of mind.

[Olioxenfree]

I would have walked through flames to get my daughter. In fact, I would go into a burning building to get my cats! And yes, I have smoke detectors which responsible people have and maintain.

You wouldn’t have gotten to your daughter, you likely would just die. And that child in the icu not only would lose all of their siblings, they would lose their parent. I love my pets, but you’d leave your kids without a parent for a cat who you almost certainly wouldn’t be able to save? Fires spread quickly and smoke detectors don’t always alert in time. There’s no need to try to “I’m a better parent” someone who just lost five children in circumstances you’ve never been in.

[Traci_Momof2]

So horrific. It makes me wonder if fires are actually getting worse or if it just seems that way because of instant media about it. But the fact that both fires had multiple kids trapped upstairs by the fire - do we need to push PSA's about having fire escape ladders in every upper bedroom? Do we need to have public drives so people can get them for free? Is there some other way to design homes so that children don't get trapped like that?

I don't know what the answer is. I just think it's such a horrible way to die especially for children that there has to be something better we can do.

From the sounds of it the oldest child was 11 the youngest 17 months. Is fire safety not a thing anymore? Every house I’ve lived in we taught the kids how to exit to home and by which route depending on where a fire was. I also check our smoke detectors regularly and replace batteries regularly. How are these fires becoming so intense so quickly? Is this a risk with houses going up quickly? Cheaper building material or old houses that haven’t had things replaced that should be replaced?

I don't know what causes these fires to be so bad. I have my theories in my area - one being we are such a dry environment (AZ). Does the dryness make the wood in the homes that much drier, which makes them burn that much faster? The other is that in my area there are a lot of people in mobile homes or manufactured homes. The fire in my area that took the 5 kids wasn't one but we've had two other fires just in the past couple months, one that took two adult lives, and those were both mobile/manufactured homes. I'm thinking because of their construction they go up quicker than a site built home?

Now, back when I lived in MN the wintertime was bigger fire season for the reason someone else mentioned - alternate risky heating sources. It's why the gas companies back there have very strict laws about shutting peoples gas off during the winter months, because if they don't have gas for their central heat they get desperate and will do anything to create a heat source.

So maybe "common fire causes" is area-dependent.