PUBLISHED 5/16/08 ----

Back-to-back fires this week, one resulting in the death of an elderly Bakersfield man, are evidence that more must be done to convince homeowners to buy and install smoke detectors.

The fires and death could have been prevented if the Bakersfield homes had been protected by low-cost, effective warning devices.

Bakersfield City Fire Department crews responded to a morning fire at 806 E. Belle Terrace Tuesday. Investigators believe an elderly man was smoking in bed; the bedding smoldered for 20 minutes to an hour; and the room erupted in flames.

When the man awoke, he fled to an adjacent bathroom to escape the heat that reached 900 degrees in the small house. Firefighters extinguished the flames and evacuated the man, who was taken to Kern Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The next morning, just a few blocks from Tuesday’s fire, a bedroom fire smoldered before erupting in flames.

City firefighters responded to 1713 Lewis St., where they found a 41-year-old woman attempting to evacuate an elderly man from the burning home the pair shared. The woman received minor burns on her feet. The man escaped injury. Investigators believe the woman had been smoking in bed.

The homes involved in both fires lacked smoke detectors, which would have alerted residents before the dwellings became engulfed in flames.

This is an all-too-familiar story. Young children, elderly people, some of our city’s most vulnerable, or maybe some of our most complacent, are victims of tragic — often fatal — fires that could have and should have been prevented.

Smoke alarms can be purchased for less than $10 in many stores. For those in need, the Bakersfield City Fire Department will give them away for free — and even install them.

“If city fire crews go into a residence — say, for a medical aid (call) involving an elderly person — they will ask if the residence has a smoke alarm,” Battalion Chief Garth Milam said. And if the home is unprotected, they may provide an alarm.

Last month, the Valley Bible Fellowship joined forces with the Bakersfield Fire Department and Castle & Cooke in a campaign to install smoke detectors for families in southeast Bakersfield.

Church volunteers visited homes in the vicinity of Texas and Bliss streets, offering to provide and install, free of charge, new smoke detectors. The campaign was prompted by the recent death of a southeast Bakersfield child in an unprotected home.

Homeowners must take responsibility for their own protection. Purchasing and installing a smoke alarm is cheap and effective.

Community groups are urged to call Milam at 326-3688 to organize distribution and installation campaigns for those who cannot afford alarms, or do not understand their importance.