Smoke Detector

LET THE changing of your clock this weekend be a reminder that it's time to check your smoke detector. It could save your life. The Philadelphia Fire Department and the southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of the Red Cross are sponsoring a program called "Change Your Clock - Change Your Battery" that's timed to this weekend's "spring forward. " Last year, 32 people died in fires in Philadelphia. Of that number, 84 percent occurred in homes that had improperly installed smoke alarms, alarms with dead or missing batteries, or no smoke alarm at all. If you can't afford a smoke alarm, call the Smoke Alarm Hot line: 3-1-1.

Authorities said yesterday that they found a smoke detector without a battery in a bedroom of the Cherry Hill house where a couple died Thursday in an early morning fire. Cherry Hill Fire Marshal Hugh H. Gibson 4th said investigators found the inoperable smoke detector in the second-floor bedroom of the home, at 12 Kaywood Lane in the Barclay Farms section. The body of Roberta Thomas, 64, was found in the bedroom. Her husband, Henry Thomas, 65, who was confined to a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis, was found dead in a first-floor bedroom.

A fast-moving fire that ripped through a North Philadelphia rowhouse Friday and killed an elderly invalid and two youngsters was started by children playing with matches, authorities said yesterday. An investigation by the city Fire Marshal's Office concluded that the one-alarm blaze began in a sofa in the ground-floor recreation room, spreading intense heat and heavy smoke throughout the first and second floors. Killed in the blaze, first reported at 11:20 a.m., were 78-year-old Willie Mae McNeil, Antoinette Allen, 2, and Uri Jackson, 4. Allen was McNeil's great-granddaughter.

THE MAYOR gets on television and says don't forget to change the batteries in your smoke detector. Then he goes around closing firehouses. Go figure that one out. Walt Van Horn, Philadelphia

A nonsmoking policy for Phoenixville students might be complicated by the determination of youthful smokers to continue their habit. At the Phoenixville Area School District meeting last week, the board voted to continue a nonsmoking policy in the schools - a policy that will be mandated by state law effective later this month. The trick, several board members said, was making sure that students didn't sneak cigarettes in restrooms or other areas where no faculty member might be watching.

A man was killed and another seriously injured early Wednesday in a house fire in North Philadelphia. A woman who was awakened by a smoke detector escaped unharmed from the blaze in the rowhouse in the 500 block of Luray Street in Feltonville, officials said. The fire was reported at 6:02 a.m. and brought under control within 15 minutes, said Fire Department Executive Chief Daniel Williams. Firefighters found the body of one man on the second floor of the house, and a second man was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center suffering from smoke inhalation, the chief said.

A fire in a rowhouse without a smoke detector spread to four neighboring dwellings in North Philadelphia early and injured seven people, including four children, officials said. One child was reported in critical condition. Deputy Chief Michael Wahl said that when the first unit arrived at 3:46 a.m., firefighters found heavy fire on the ground floor of a 2-story rowhouse at 219 W. Albanus St. in the Olney section. "They made an aggressive interior attack," he said. The blaze spread along the porches to three houses on the west side of the home at 219 and one to the west, Wahl said.

Three children - left alone in a house with no working smoke detector - died yesterday when a brief but intense fire flared inside their North Philadelphia rowhouse. The victims - two girls and a boy - were removed from a second-floor bedroom, along with a second brother, who was critically injured. The blaze in the two-story, brick house in the narrow 4600 block of Rosehill Street in the city's Feltonville section was reported at 5:52 p.m., and put under control just 10 minutes later, Deputy Fire Chief Matthew McCrory said.

LET THE changing of your clock this weekend be a reminder that it's time to check your smoke detector. It could save your life. The Philadelphia Fire Department and the southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of the Red Cross are sponsoring a program called "Change Your Clock - Change Your Battery" that's timed to this weekend's "spring forward. " Last year, 32 people died in fires in the city. Of that number, 84 percent occurred in homes that had improperly installed smoke alarms, alarms with dead or missing batteries, or no smoke alarm.

Standing before the charred, burned-out house where four members of a West Philadelphia family lost their lives this week, Mayor Nutter implored city residents on Tuesday to make fire safety a top priority. Get smoke detectors, Nutter said. Check the batteries. Devise an escape plan for family members in the event of fire, and practice it. "In 2012, in the 21st century, in Philadelphia, no one should unnecessarily lose their life in a fire," Nutter said. "These are preventable tragedies.

NEITHER of the two Philadelphia homes destroyed by fire Sunday and Monday, leaving three adults and three children dead, had functioning smoke alarms. In fact, 27 of last year's 32 fire fatalities occurred in buildings without smoke detectors, or with detectors with dead or missing batteries, according to the Fire Department. Anyone who can't afford a detector can call the smoke-alarm hot line at 215-686-1176 to get a free one from the city. "We ensure that our Fire Department personnel get out there and install the alarm immediately," said Executive Chief Richard Davison.

A fire in a rowhouse without a smoke detector spread to four neighboring dwellings in North Philadelphia early and injured seven people, including four children, officials said. One child was reported in critical condition. Deputy Chief Michael Wahl said that when the first unit arrived at 3:46 a.m., firefighters found heavy fire on the ground floor of a 2-story rowhouse at 219 W. Albanus St. in the Olney section. "They made an aggressive interior attack," he said. The blaze spread along the porches to three houses on the west side of the home at 219 and one to the west, Wahl said.

LET THE changing of your clock this weekend be a reminder that it's time to check your smoke detector. It could save your life. The Philadelphia Fire Department and the southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of the Red Cross are sponsoring a program called "Change Your Clock - Change Your Battery" that's timed to this weekend's "spring forward. " Last year, 32 people died in fires in the city. Of that number, 84 percent occurred in homes that had improperly installed smoke alarms, alarms with dead or missing batteries, or no smoke alarm.

LET THE changing of your clock this weekend be a reminder that it's time to check your smoke detector. It could save your life. The Philadelphia Fire Department and the southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of the Red Cross are sponsoring a program called "Change Your Clock - Change Your Battery" that's timed to this weekend's "spring forward. " Last year, 32 people died in fires in Philadelphia. Of that number, 84 percent occurred in homes that had improperly installed smoke alarms, alarms with dead or missing batteries, or no smoke alarm at all. If you can't afford a smoke alarm, call the Smoke Alarm Hot line: 3-1-1.

PHILADELPHIA Franklin Mills Mall crash victims ID'd Police yesterday identified the three young people killed Wednesday night in a single-car crash near the Franklin Mills Mall. The driver of the Pontiac Grand Am was identified as Anthony Christensen, 20, of Bensalem. His passengers were Lucrecia Santa Maria, 15, of Trenton, and Christopher Alcalde, 17, of Philadelphia, according to police. Christensen lost control of his vehicle shortly before 8 p.m. while he was northbound on Franklin Mills Circle, police said.

A 42-year-old man is dead and two other people are hospitalized following a fire early today in a Juniata Park rowhouse, official said. Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers told reporters at the scene that the home on the 4500 block of Pennhurst Street did not have a smoke detector. A 40-year-old woman and a 37-year-old man were reported in stable condition at Temple University Hospital, where they were being treated for smoke inhalation, officials said. Firefighters responded to the blaze at 1:05 a.m. declared it under control 15 minutes later.

LAST MONTH, I extended a citywide plea to all Philadelphians, asking each and every one to check, replace or install smoke detectors throughout not only their own homes but the homes of everyone they know, especially those of senior citizens. Again, I beg you all to make this a priority to at least try to avoid another tragedy. (On Jan. 13, we lost Rasheeda Wilson and her three babies; on Feb. 27 it was Ms. Vicks, her 6-month-old baby girl, along with Mr. Singleton. Now, on March 2, firefighter Michael McGuire almost lost his life.)

Smoke engulfed a two-story North Philadelphia rowhouse early yesterday morning in a fire that extinguished the lives of a young couple and their six-month-old baby girl. They had just moved into the rented house on Valentine's Day. "That was their Valentine's Day gift" to each other, said Tyenisha Leach, 25, a cousin of the young woman who died, as she and other relatives drove onto Seltzer Street near 27th, where hours earlier firefighters desperately tried to save the young family.

FIREFIGHTERS Local 22 President Bill Gault hasn't been shy about stating his views of the Fire Department's management of its resources during tough economic times. In most cases, we've chosen to ignore Mr. Gault's hyperbole. But, recently, Gault asserted that "smoke detectors are just an aid, they don't save lives. The professional Fire Department saves lives. " Gault's trivialization of the important role of residential smoke alarms is both irresponsible and counterproductive to the safety of the citizens we serve.