Brooklyn, NY – Following the September 29th fire which injured five children and took the life of an eight year old Midwood boy, the FDNY is taking steps to address fire safety, keeping in mind the unique needs of the Jewish community. The three alarm blaze, which also sent four firefighters to the hospital, was caused by an electric hot plate left on a wooden counter to warm food over the three day holiday.
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Laura Squassoni, Chief Inspector with the FDNY/Fire Safety Education Unit spoke with VIN News, hoping to educate the Jewish community in fire safety basics.
“Jewish kids have more serious burns than any other population,” explained Squassoni, highlighting hot water urns, Shabbos candles and Chanukah candles as items that are commonly present in Jewish households, but are not necessarily supervised at all times by an adult.
In fact, the statistics on home fire are alarming. While 97% of homes have smoke detectors, 33% of those smoke detectors are not functional. In 70% of fatal home fires, either no smoke detectors were present or the smoke detectors were disabled.
Squassoni outlined a three pronged approach to fire safety that should be followed at all times to ensure a fire safe, life saving environment: fire prevention, fire notification and fire escape plan.
Fire prevention is the obvious first step in fire safety. The best ways to prevent a fire are to keep flammable items away from cooking areas and other fire sources and to be sure that any electrical appliances are approved by either the UL (Underwriters Laboratory) or FM (Factory Mutual) both global agencies which tests products for safety. While there are some products that bear counterfeit UL or FM logos, Squassoni explained that the easiest way to determine if a product is truly certified is to let price be your guide.
“You get what you pay for,” said Squassoni. “A non UL or FM item is bound to be cheaper. It has less copper in it. If the price is too low, there may be a reason why.”
Squassoni also stressed the importance of exercising extreme caution with any heat source by not placing any electrical appliances or candles on flammable surfaces. In the case of the fatal Midwood fire, a hotplate was left on a wooden countertop which caught fire. Equally important is a fire watch – never leaving candles of any sort unattended. Squassoni urged the public never to leave a yahrtzeit candle on a flammable surface and never to go to sleep or leave the house while the Shabbos or Chanukah candles are still burning.
lso important is the use of timers on electrical cooking items. While Squassoni said the FDNY understands the needs of the Jewish community in using electric heat sources on Shabbos and Yom Tov she suggested setting timers to turn off crockpots and other appliances when they are no longer in use.
A key component of fire notification is having fully operational smoke detectors, notifying inhabitants of the imminent danger. Placing smoke detectors too close to the kitchen can be problematic because basic smoke detectors are very sensitive to steam and other typical cooking byproducts. These detectors can become annoying and unfortunately, many people disable their smoke detectors so as not to be bothered with nuisance alarms. But according to Squassoni, not all smoke detectors are created equal. While an ionization smoke detector will pick up on a flaming fire, typically many home fires are what is considered to be a smoldering fire, something that can be better identified by a photoelectric smoke detector which picks up smoke particles in the air. While a photoelectric smoke detector is obviously the better choice for cooking areas, the FDNY recommends a combination ionization and photoelectric smoke detector.
Finally, having a working fire escape plan, including regular fire drills is vital to fire safety. While there are those who would reach for the fire extinguisher to put out the fire themselves, Squassoni stressed that that is the wrong thing to do, saying that more often than not people get injured and waste valuable time that should be spent evacuating the house, calling the fire department and meeting with family members at a designated meeting place.
“When a fire breaks out,” said Squassoni “you have about three minutes before toxic gasses of carbon dioxide and cyanide are released into the air. Get the hell out. You have insurance. Get everyone out, don’t go back in. The kids, your family, everyone is much more valuable than anything in your house.”
While the FDNY already has fire safety literature for the religious community available in both English and Yiddish, in light of the recent tragedy they are preparing more extensive documents specifically geared to the needs of the Orthodox community.
For further information on fire safety, visit the FDNY website at www.nyc.gov/fdny.
Thank you FDNY! Negligent stubborn parents listen for once. You owe it to your children to keep them safe!
Just as a fire safety idea.
Why doesn’t someone in the import business or glass business make those glass cases that they use for Chanukah menoras in E. Yisroel to the USA. We should all light our menorahs in our house in such a box. This way the fire is not an open fire and if it should fall over c”v the fire will just burn out by itself.
I’m not in the import/manfacturing business, this is just a simple idea that could save so many lives and prevent so much loss and agravation and it would be a great menuchas hanefesh for anyone with little kids in the house or who might have a chunkah mesiba and doesn’t want to blow out his candles, etc.
Maybe you are ignorant but this father did his best to save his children and he did a great job at it. It is unfortunate that one boy died but it definitely was no one’s fault and as a jew you shouldn’t question. FYI to everyone out there, raw grated potatoes applied immediately after a burn does miracles. Should be changed frequently.
Why to they didn’t mention even one word about the main safety failure which was in fact the cause of the child’s life??? “burglar bars”. as per all reports it took the firefighters a few minutes to cut off these metal bars! how is it legal “and even required by the HPD” to have these bars closed and sealed without a locked door on it to use it in case of emergency?!
To no. 4
Sorry but its too late to rationalize what this father did or whether he was negligent. This tragedy is over but its not too late to prevent another. If there is any doubt about safety, its much better NOT to light shabos licht or the menorah than to leave them burning where they might start a fire, where children might play with the candles while the parents are not looking etc. The mitzvah of pikuach nefesh always trumps the mitzvah of shabbos and chanakah licht.
When I lived in Brooklyn years ago, the FDNY would come around once a year to routinely inspect our home. It is my understanding that for budgetary reasons, the Fire Department no longer does this. They would check the furnace area in the basement, and also would check for fire escapes. One time, they actually gave us a summons for not having a fire escape. We checked with the building department, and ascertained that since our home was built in 1907, according to the New York Fire and Building Code, it was not required to have a fire escape. Evidently, that fact was not transmitted to the local engine company. In 1968, some occupants of the downstairs apartment in my building (it was a three story (family) home), thought they heard some noises in the wall, and suspected a fire. This was about 3AM in the morning, during the winter. When the Fire Department came (Engine 281), they were ready to start breaking down the wall with their axes. Finally, they ascertained that there was no fire. We gave them coffee, and they told us that “you make good coffee”.
Our rabbis should be speaking from the pulpit about the importance of having working smoke detectors in the house and that the batteries must be changed regularly. It is a shanda to know that one third of the smoke detectors are non-functional. This is the biggest sin of all.
Think Smart -Those bars are supposed to be able to be opened even by a child, from the inside, if that’s one of your escape routes. Remember every room needs to have 2 escape routes. Go to thelakewoodscoop under classifieds-misc/services if you want to see an ad about fire safety courses.
People are also living in illegal apartments. Why do people not realize why they are illegal and what the possible consequences are?
I wrote before of smoke alarms, heat detectors, ground fault sockets or moveable ground fault devices. You need to remember to put something that is non flammable under the blech such as a pieces of metal on legs so air can get between the counter and blech or put the electric blech on the close stove top. Something I did not write is that you should have some tray under the candlesticks that is the candle fall overs falls onto the tray and not onto the table which has a table cloth. Table cloths should also be fire retardant. Candlesticks should be out of reach of children. Gas hobs should have a cut out if the flame goes out since living a pot on the fire could also cause problems. Remember to use proper extension cords not the cheapest you can buy.