MOULTRIE, Ga. — In 1944, the sixth of June — D-Day — marked a turning point in World War II. Moultrie firefighters believe June 6, 2001, marked a turning point in their battle against deadly house fires too.
That’s the day one of the worst fires in Moultrie history claimed the lives of Brenda Nelson and five members of her family.
And it serves as the conception date for a program in which the Moultrie Fire Department installs free smoke detectors in residences throughout the city. More than 7,000 have been installed since then, Moultrie Fire Capt. Lavon Cooper said last week.
“The program has been a great success for us,” Cooper said, noting 37 confirmed saves and 93 people who were affected by having a smoke alarm that the fire department had installed.
On Tuesday, the program got a shot in the arm with a donation of 24 detectors from the state Insurance and Fire Commissioner’s Office. Commissioner Ralph Hudgens delivered the alarms personally.
These detectors were provided through Operation Safe Home, a statewide program that has provided more than 165,000 free smoke alarms to Georgia residents who otherwise couldn’t afford them. Operation Safe Home relies on private donations, not tax money, to buy the detectors, according to a press release from Hudgens’ office.
“Most fire fatalities occur in the home and most occur when people are sleeping,” Hudgens said. “Having a smoke alarm in your home can mean the difference between life and death. In fact, statistics consistently show that having a working smoke alarm in the house doubles your chance of getting out alive.”
There was no smoke detector in Nelson’s house that night when a candle left burning started the fire. The dead included Nelson, 41; Samuel Nelson, 13; Bernard Nelson, 17; Fred Parrish, 5; Freddie Parrish, 4; and Clinton Williams Sr., 66. Eighteen-year-old Greg Nelson jumped through a window and suffered a severe cut; he was the fire’s only survivor.
Later that year, the Moultrie Fire Department went door-to-door to tell residents about fire safety. Firefighters agreed to install battery-powered smoke detectors for residents, but the residents would have to buy them.
“We really recognized for years the fire problem in residential homes,” Cooper recalled. “We didn’t have the money to address the problem.”
Cooper — with the help of city employee Brenda Ellison and Steve Davidson of the Georgia Department of Public Health — applied for a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, administered by the Department of Public Health’s Injury Prevention Section. In February 2002, the fire department received its first smoke detectors paid for with that grant, and firefighters went to work.
Cooper said the fire department installs 700 to 750 smoke detectors a year now. The detectors they’re using now have long-life batteries that don’t have to be replaced for several years. He urged anyone who needs a smoke detector to call the fire department.
While saving lives is obviously of top priority, Cooper said the early notification that the smoke detector provides also helps save property.
“The fire, instead of burning the house down, might be confined to a room,” he said.
Copyright 2012 The Moultrie ObserverDistributed by Newsbank, Inc. All Rights Reserved
