An extra-alarm fire that claimed the lives of four children who were trapped inside their home Wednesday morning is a tragedy that fire officials say could have been avoided.
Two adults were also seriously injured in the fire.
Images: Fatal Fire | Video
NBC5's Sharon Wright said that the fire department reminded Chicagoans that it's all about the smoke detectors.
A smoke detector costs less than a pack of cigarettes or a video rental, yet it save lives.
But in two fatal fires in Chicago overnight Tuesday, detectors were either missing or had no working battery.
Fire department cadets were deployed throughout the Englewood neighbor Wednesday afternoon, handing out 1,000 smoke detectors for residents in the 20 blocks around 54th and Honore streets, where firefighters fought hard to douse the early-morning fire that left four young cousins dead.
According to the Chicago Fire Department, one of the smoke detectors in the building where the fire occured had a dead battery. Another had no battery at all.
There were similar concerns regarding a fatal fire Wednesday on Chicago's West Side at 1743 N. Whipple Ave., where flames consumed a home, killing a man who was living on the top floor.
Nine residents on first floor got out safely because they had working smoke detectors, authorities said.
"We lost five people in six hours to fires. That's unacceptable," said Chicago fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter.
"The fact is, there's no excuse. We all know that working smoke detectors save lives," he added.
In the case of rental units, Wright said, landlords are responsible for installing smoke detectors and tenants are responsible for maintaining them and changing the batteries.
But the fire department saif individuals need to take responsibility for their own safety by making sure that smoke detectors are working and the batteries in them are charged.
Wright shared a fire department recommendation that residents change smoke detector batteries when they change their clocks this coming weekend.
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