CHICAGO (CBS) — A fire chief said he discovered a frightening and dangerous lack of working smoke detectors in homes in a suburban neighborhood after a fire left several people homeless last week.
Four brothers and sisters escaped a house fire on Dec. 20 in the 300 block of Division Street. They were treated for burns, smoke inhalation, and frostbite. Afterward, their mother said the children told her the smoke detectors in their apartment did not go off.
Authorities said the landlord of the building had installed smoke detectors in the home, but they were not properly maintained.
Two days later, firefighters returned to the neighborhood and passed out smoke detectors. Among the 45 families who came to their doors, 30 needed new smoke detectors. Firefighters installed them for free, and gave out 14 sets of batteries.
Elgin Fire Department Battalion Chief Terry Bruce said it was a sobering discovery.
“We are shocked to find that number of smoke detectors not working, yes,” he said. “I think people just get complacent, just like this family here. We know that they had working smoke detectors at one time. We don’t know what happened during the fire, but people just get complacent and don’t think that anything’s going to happen to them until it does.”
Bruce said it’s a reminder to renters and homeowners to check that smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are not only installed, but working properly.
from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2iEPkol
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