NFPA Journal - September/October 2019 - 68

Firewatch
child who was not accounted for in
the kitchen and secured the area for
investigators. The victim's body was
transported to the medical examiner's
office after the medical examiner and
representatives from law enforcement
completed their examination.
Investigators determined that the fire
began in the kitchen area. While unable
to establish definite cause, they believed
that the fire may have been ignited by
a candle. Neighbors indicated that the
area had been without power for several
days following a hurricane.
The residence was not equipped with
automatic detection equipment.
The home occupied a ground floor
area of 840 square feet (78 square
meters) and was constructed with wood
walls and a metal roof deck and cover.
The structure and contents, valued at
nearly $13,000, were a total loss.

TEXAS
Two die in apartment with no
working smoke alarms
Heavy smoke from a smoldering fire on
a piece of living room furniture caused
the deaths of an elderly couple.
Firefighters responded to the scene
after an early morning 911 report of a
residential fire. Arriving crews easily
extinguished a smoldering fire on an
ottoman in an apartment at the rear of
a single-story residence.
Investigators determined that the
fire started when heat from a light bulb
caused the furniture to ignite. The ottoman was pressed against a wall lamp
after being placed on a shelf to avoid
anticipated flood damage.
According to investigators, the residence was not equipped with working
smoke alarms.
News reports on the fire provided
information about the fire department's
free smoke alarm installation program
and about requirements for landlords
to provide working smoke alarms.
The apartment was located at the
rear of a single-story house and occupied 560 square feet (52 square meters).
The structure was a wood construction
with a concrete floor frame.
Damage from the fire was estimated
at $6,000.

68 | NFPA JOURNAL * S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 1 9

LOUISIANA
Furniture fire starts house blaze that
kills child
A house fire claimed the life of a
young child who couldn't be located
after the fire was discovered by other
family members shortly before 8 a.m.
The fire department was dispatched
following a 911 call from the residence
reporting a fire with possible entrapment. Arriving firefighters found a
single-story residence fully involved
with fire and immediately called for
additional resources.
The first-arriving crews deployed
a hand line and started attacking the
fire at the front of the house in an
effort to gain access to the interior, but
fire was extensive and venting through
the roof, limiting crews to an exterior attack. Other companies began
arriving on the scene, and incident
command directed one department
to establish a water shuttle, with all
engine companies assigned to assist
fire attack. News reports indicated that
13 fire department vehicles responded
to the fire and that crews battled the
fire for 30 minutes before bringing it
under control.
When conditions permitted entry, a
search team made an initial sweep of
the residence, but were unsuccessful
in locating the victim. A second search
was conducted after the fire was extinguished and smoke had cleared, and
crews were then able to locate the
victim in a bedroom. Overhaul efforts
were paused while a coroner was summoned to the scene.
Investigators determined that the
fire was first ignited on a living room
sofa. In post-fire interviews with the
homeowners, investigators learned
that the child was watching television
in the living room while family members were engaged in other morning
activities. After smelling smoke, the
father found that the living room sofa
was on fire, with no sign of the child.
He attempted to pull the sofa out of
the house, but it became wedged in
the doorway, and he broke windows
in order to get back inside, where he
alerted other family members and
searched for the child. He evacuated

the house when smoke and heat
became too intense.
After examining the scene, the
investigators concluded that the fire
had been ignited by matches that had
been left on a fireplace mantel in the
living room.
The home was equipped with a
smoke alarm, but it was found to be
inoperable.
The house was a wood frame structure with a brick exterior and cement
floor frame. It occupied a ground floor
area of 1,200 square feet (111 square
meters).
The house and contents, together
valued at $200,000, were a total loss.

MINNESOTA
Sprinkler controls fire when power
strip overheats on mattress
Firefighters were called to a multifamily housing complex shortly after 11
p.m. by reports of a fire in a bedroom.
As fire crews arrived at the scene,
they found smoke coming from the
first-floor area at one end of a 24-unit
apartment building that primarily
housed college students. Crews proceeded to a third-floor unit where
the fire originated and found that a
sprinkler was controlling a fire under
a mattress in the bedroom. Crew members completely extinguished the fire
and turned off the sprinkler system,
then ventilated the building.
Occupants of the unit told investigators that they had been playing
video games in the bedroom and had
momentarily moved to the kitchen
when smoke alarms started sounding.
They returned to the bedroom and
found the bed skirt on fire on one side
of the bed. The occupants called 911
after making unsuccessful attempts to
extinguish the fire with water.
One of the occupants suffered minor
burn injuries to his hand while trying
to move items off the bed.
In the bedroom, investigators found
that a computer tablet and chargers
were plugged into a power strip on top
of the bed underneath a pillow and
that the circuit to the bedroom outlets
was tripped in the circuit panel. They
determined that the fire began when
NFPA Journal - September/October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - September/October 2019
