What Time Is It?

Time to CHANGE your clocks & CHECK your smoke alarms this weekend
   

Simple task can be a potentially life-saving one!

Daylight savings time ends November 6^th and the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service is asking all residents to check their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors to ensure they are working when they change their clocks this weekend.   

“Home fires injure and kill thousands every year,” said Fire Chief Scott Goldstein.  “Smoke alarms that are properly installed and maintained play a vital role in reducing fire deaths and injuries. I encourage everyone to test their smoke alarms, replace any alarms that are 10 years or older and conduct a home fire drill this weekend.”

The peak time for home fire fatalities is between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. when most families are sleeping. A working smoke alarm dramatically increases the chance for survival and provides advance warning of a fire resulting in more time to react and put a home escape plan into action. 

Help keep your family safe by following these fire safety tips:

1.      Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, including the basement, and in all sleeping areas.

2.     Do you know if your smoke alarm is impacted by Maryland’s new law? Battery-only smoke alarms need to be replaced by 1/1/2018 with new smoke alarms that have sealed in, 10-year long life batteries.   

3.      Retire old smoke alarms and replace with new ones every 10 years. Like any electronic device, smoke alarms wear out over time and need to be replaced. The life expectancy of smoke alarms is 10 years. Smoke alarms work by sensing smoke particles and after 10 years, the smoke sensors lose their sensitivity. The test button only confirms that the battery, electronics and alerting system are working; not that the smoke sensor is working.

4.      Plan and practice home fire drills regularly. Decide in advance who will help family members that may need assistance escaping (young children, older adults or people with disabilities).        

6.      Make sure children recognize the sound of your smoke alarm and how to respond to its signal.

7.      Know your battery type. Sealed smoke alarms equipped with 10-year batteries are becoming more common and the batteries do not need to be replaced if they are sealed into the unit. Check your smoke alarms to see what type of battery it uses. While 10-year, long-life batteries do not need to be replaced annually, the entire smoke alarm unit does need to be replaced every ten years.Hard-wired smoke alarms, not affected by the new law, should have a battery backup and like all smoke alarm units need to be replaced every 10 years.

Got questions? Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service conducts free home safety checks of smoke alarms for residents at no cost. Please call 311 for information or visit our website for info as well as year-round safety information at www.mcfrs.org/mcsafe. 

Kensington Apartment Fire

On Monday, May 2, at approximately 12:44 p.m. units from Kensington Fire Station #5 were dispatched for a report of smoke in an apartment unit in the 3300 block of University Boulevard, W. Paramedic Engine 705 arrived on the scene and found an active fire in a terrace level apartment bedroom and quickly requested additional resources.

Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire and contain it to the apartment of origin. Crews made an attempt to evacuate occupants from the building using the local alarm system but were unable too due to a non-functioning alarm system.  Code Compliance was requested and reported to the scene.

Fire Investigators were also requested and conducted an Origin and Cause investigation. The cause was determined to be accidental and electrical in nature.

Approximately 65 firefighters responded to the scene with no injuries reported. A female occupant of another apartment was transported to a local hospital for a checkup. Damages were estimated at $100,000 to the structure and $50,000 to the contents. Several families were also displaced as a result of the fire.

Significant Fire & EMS Incidents From July 18 through July 24

Battalion 1 Incidents

• Motor Vehicle Crash Colesville Road @ Silgo Creek PKWY – Fire units found 2 vehicles w/ 3 trauma patients (1 trapped & 1 pinned). 1 MCPD officer 2 civilian patients transported to local hospitals.

• House Fire in the 3 block of Hickory Ave – Fire units arrived to find smoke showing from the roof. Fire started on the rear below the deck and spread to the attic then entered the structure. $400K damage to structure and $200K to contents

Battalion 2 Incidents

• River Rescue at Purple Horse Beach. Units retrieved a 16 year old female w/ a minor ankle injury. Patient, and mother, refused further treatment.

Battalion 3 Incidents

• House Fire in the 13000 block of Mustang Hill La - Fire started on exterior of rear of home possibly due to improperly discarded smoking materials that ignited decking & siding. Fire extended into attic was through the roof on arrival of fire units. Exterior & interior coordinated attack extinguished fire. $200K damage to structure and $100K to contents.

• Building Fire in the 11100 block of Rockville Pike – Fire units arrived and found fire on the 1st floor. A 2nd Alarm was called for. Three business involved and impacted. 1 Fire Fighter transported to local hospital for heat issues.

Battalion 4 Incidents

• House Fire in the 4000 block of Glenridge St- Fire units arrived and found a fire in the basement. Fire fighters were able to contain fire to one room. No injuries with loss of $10K in structure and $5K for the contents.

• House Fire in the 12100 block of Veirs Mill Rd. – Fire units arrived on scene with smoke showing. Fire fighters found fire out and reported it to be food left on the stove with no extension but heavy smoke.

• Apartment Fire in the 5500 block of Burnside Dr. – Fire units arrived on scene and found a fire on balcony of one apartment. The fire was contained to the balcony. Damage estimated at $300 to structure and $500 to contents. Cause determined to be discarded smoking material.

Battalion 5 Incidents

• Hazardous Materials Incident in the1 block of Observation Court - Hazmat call for unknown chemical ("white powder") found on several vehicles in the parking lot of an apartment complex. Haz Mat crew determined the substance was table salt. Referred to MCPD for vandalism investigation.

• Trauma Injury from a fall in the 6500 block of Olney-Laytonsville Road - Counselor/lifeguard fell from lifeguard stand onto pool deck & into pool. C-spine stabilized by staff in the pool prior to fire units arrival. Patient treated & transported to local hospital as a Priority 2/Category C trauma.

Friday Home Fires Highlight Danger of Combustible Materials Too Close to Lamps/Lights

A couple of fire calls this past Friday caught my eye and I wanted to share them with you. The cause of the fires may actually surprise many of you. It certainly highlights the fact that many of the fires MCFRS Fire Fighter’s respond to are PREVENTABLE incidents.

In one instance the fire originated in closet by the front door due to combustibles too close to light fixture.

The next fire was due to bedding materials on a lamp.

Hopefully all of you caught on to the fact that the light bulbs in the lamp and light fixture were the “spark” that started each fire. They were allowed to be the “spark” because materials that can burn were placed close enough to each device that the materials heated up to the point where they caught fire.

None of the people who lived in these homes meant for this to happen. No doubt many of you reading this right now are saying to yourselves, “Wow! I did not realize a fire could start this way!”

But it can and it did! My hope is that many of you will read this and perhaps pay a little more attention to where you may be tossing your clothes, towels, bed sheets/blankets, jackets, etc. This is the time of year where we also see many folks using space heaters to dry out or heat up wet clothes – which can result in the same set of circumstances that occurred Friday.

So, please, understand that your lamps and light fixtures are a potential source of heat that can start a fire if you are placing things that can burn too close to them.

For more safety tips, please go to our Safety In Our Neighborhood site.