A home destroyed. Three people left homeless. A young man hospitalized. Tuesday’s Tucker Street fire was a tragedy counterbalanced only by the outpouring of generosity that is sure to come the way of the East Lynn family thanks to big-hearted Lynn residents.
Lynn Fire Chief Stephen Archer, a veteran firefighter who has stood at the scene of deadly blazes, said, “there might have been a different outcome” in the Tucker Street fire if the homeowner had not replaced the residence’s smoke alarms last week. The fast-moving fire triggered the alarms in time to send the home’s lone occupant at the time fleeing into the street.
Daylight Savings Time ends in three weeks marking one of two times during the year (the other is mid-March) when fire departments issue public reminders for people to replace smoke alarm batteries and make sure alarms work.
Alarms are an essential first line of defense for saving lives in the crucial seconds before firefighters converge on a fire and extinguish it. Coupled with a family evacuation plan rehearsed and practiced to ensure a quick escape from a burning home, working alarms save lives.
Lynn firefighters have launched successive campaigns in the last five years aimed at educating homeowners, tenants and children in fire safety. Billboards featuring fire safety posters drawn by students loomed over Wyoma Square. Firefighters went house to house installing smoke alarms for free. They made the rounds of schools where they explained evacuation plans to kids and told them how to rehearse the plans with their parents.
Local fire department efforts to prevent deadly fires are reinforced by the state Fire Marshal’s efforts to educate the public about the dangers of candles, fireworks, kerosene lamps, space heaters, faulty extension cords and a host of other flammable dangers.
Lives are still lost in Massachusetts fires and chiefs like Archer point to culprits, including carelessly-discarded smoking material, in their attempts to grasp why flame-borne tragedy cannot be avoided.
The time it takes to check alarms, replace batteries and, if necessary, buy and install a new alarm represents a small price paid to save lives. Winter is on its way and with the colder weather comes Christmas and other holiday lights, candles and the temptation to plug in a space heater.
There are safe ways to use and enjoy holiday and cold weather appliances, but safety and caution are watchwords when it comes to avoiding fires. A walk through a residence and a family meeting to discuss an evacuation plan can set the stage for periodic practices that may make the difference between life and death.
