Philadelphia Sets Record Low For Civilian Fire Deaths

Philadelphia had just 25 civilian fire deaths in 2012 - the lowest number in recorded history, fire officials said.

That number was down from 32 in the previous year and continued a general downward trend since 2006. The previous record low was 30 in 2009.

"We feel good about that," Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said Wednesday, adding: "We still fell 25 short of our goal."

The number does not include two firefighters, Lt. Robert Neary and Daniel Sweeney, who died when a wall of a vacant mill collapsed during a fire in Kensington in April.

Among the 25 deaths, 13 involved properties that had either no smoke alarms or alarms without working batteries.

The department has a number of public education programs that Ayers credited with reducing fire deaths, including firefighters blanketing high-risk areas and talking to residents about fire safety, and offering to inspect smoke detectors.

"It's a ton of things, but more than anything, it's firefighters knocking on doors," he said.

Bill Gault, president of the Philadelphia Fire Fighters Union, blasted the 10-page report for leaving out Neary and Sweeney. The union has been working without a contract since 2009 and has been battling the Nutter administration on a number of policy issues.

"The omission isn't surprising," Gault said. "Firefighters simply don't count as far as this administration is concerned."

Ayers said the year-end reports never include firefighter deaths, which are recorded separately. He called the union's response "pretty low."

"It's unfortunate that they'd mix this up and not acknowledge the great work the men and women of the Fire Department have been doing," he said.

Calls for fires and other 911 emergency requests - not including medical calls - also dropped more than 5 percent in 2012.

Ayers has cited a reduction of fires and fire deaths as the reason to implement a firefighter rotation policy this month. It is the latest battleground between the union and administration.

The union argues that moving senior firefighters out of fire houses where they have spent most of their careers will break up effective teams and put firefighters at risk.

Gault called the rotations "vindictive." He said his members had 263 injuries last year, and attributed the progress on deaths to firefighters who "lay their lives on the line despite being treated with nothing but contempt."

Nutter called the record "a great achievement" and praised firefighters for their "high standards."

"We want to be at zero, and we think we can achieve that," Nutter said.

Ayers said a recent bill to require homes to have smoke detectors with 10-year nonremovable batteries should reduce deaths further.

The department offers a new fire safety app at www.freedomfromfire.com/fsapp.

Contact Troy Graham at 215-854-2739 or [email protected], or follow on Twitter @troyjgraham.

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