Free Smoke Detectors in Demand After Fatal Ill. Fire

July 4, 2013
A fatal fire in Jacksonville last week saw a demand for their smoke detector give away program.

July 03--The Jacksonville Fire Department has been handing out free smoke detectors for several months, but the requests for them have spiked since a fire Thursday at a Marnico Village residence claimed the lives of a mother and her two children.

"We started this last year when we got a grant from Wal-Mart," Fire Chief Rick Kluge said.

With the grant, the fire department bought $1,500 worth of smoke detectors in late October.

"We did some advertising that we had them available on a first-come, first-served basis and a few people came in," Kluge said. "Since this fire happened last Thursday we've given out 50 or so."

The fire at 1664 Mount Zion Road claimed the lives of Kayla Perry and her two sons, 7-year-old Joshua and 4-year-old Christopher. The three died of smoke inhalation, according to Coroner Jeff Lair. They were pronounced dead at the scene about 1:25 a.m.

The fire broke out in the family's trailer about 1 a.m. A neighbor alerted the Morgan County Sheriff's Department to the fire.

In interviews with news media about the fatal fire, Kluge mentioned his department's efforts to give away smoke detectors, which may have been a factor in the rise in requests for them, he said.

Kluge does not know if there were smoke detectors in the residence.

"This wasn't our fire, so we weren't part of the investigation," he said.

The Chapin Fire Department responded, and with mutual aid from South Jacksonville, battled the blaze that had already engulfed the trailer before firefighters arrived. The residence was destroyed.

"I don't know if there was (a smoke detector) in the residence," Chapin Fire Chief Scott Pahlmann said. "The fire marshal investigator might have found something during his investigation."

A spokesman for the Office of the State Fire Marshal could not say for certain if the home had smoke detectors installed.

"Up to this point, it is very hard to determine if there were smoke alarms in place and working because the home burned to the ground," spokesman Milly Santiago said Tuesday. "That is why the cause is still undetermined and still under investigation."

It could be a week before the investigation is concluded and a report is put together, Santiago said

"The fire reports we fill out always ask if there was a smoke detector in the residence, and if it activated and alerted the occupants," Kluge said. "The state fire marshal likes to know that information for the state stats."

Based on available statistics, 90 percent of the homes in America have smoke detectors, but usually only 40 percent are working, Kluge said.

The fire chief said he has seen firsthand a lack of working smoke detectors in some residential fires his department has handled.

"We go to fires and see there are three smoke detectors in a home, but they are either old and not working or have no batteries," Kluge said. "We've been keeping smoke detectors on our trucks so we can hand them out when we find that there aren't any in a home."

The fire department still has smoke detectors to give away.

"You can come to the fire department and a firefighter will get you one until we run out," Kluge said.

Copyright 2013 - Jacksonville Journal-Courier, Ill.

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