MEDIA CONTACT: Mark E. Brady, Chief Spokesperson, 240-508-7930
MEBrady@co.pg.md.us @PGFDPIO
Firefighters rescued 3 young occupants of a Temple Hills
home fire this morning. Just after 7:00 am,
Sunday, October 29, 2017 firefighters and medics were alerted to a house fire
in the 4700 block of Alcon Drive. A 911-call
taker received an emergency call from a female stating that her house was on
fire and her children were trapped on the 2nd floor of the home. The children were unable to escape due to the
thick smoke and high heat in the hallway.
This information was relayed to responding firefighters by dispatchers
at Public Safety Communications.
First arriving firefighters from the Silver Hill Fire/EMS
Station 829 arrived with smoke showing from the house. A rapid circle check of the house revealed to
the officer-in-charge, Fire Lt. Michael Perritt, that there was a fire located
in the 1st floor kitchen. With
a crew of five firefighters onboard the engine Lt. Perritt was able to split
his crew. He directed a firefighter to
advance a hose line to the first floor kitchen and extinguish the fire while
Perritt and 2 other firefighters went to the 2nd floor to search for
the trapped occupants.
Despite high heat and near zero visibility the crews located
2 children in one room and an infant in another. The 3 children were brought down through the
interior stairwell to the exterior where firefighters initiated immediate rescue
breathing on 2 and cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the infant. All 3 children responded to the life-saving
efforts and started breathing on their own.
The fire was extinguished within 2 minutes of arrival with search and rescues
occurring shortly thereafter.
An adult male escaped the 2nd floor by jumping
out of a window. He was not
injured. A secondary search of the house
found that all other occupants had escaped prior to the fire departments
arrival.
A total of 4 occupants between the ages of 17 years of age
and 4 months old were transported to a hospital suffering from heat and
exposure to smoke. They were transported
in serious but stable condition.
A working smoke alarm
could be heard by firefighters as they entered the structure.
There were 8 occupants inside the house this morning. A total of 9 normally reside there and will
be displaced. They are being assisted by
the County Citizen Services Unit and the American Red Cross.
The cause of the fire is undetermined and fire loss is still
being estimated. No additional injuries
were reported.
The Fire/EMS Department believes the working smoke alarm alerted
and awoke the sleeping occupants.
Occupants stand a 50% better chance of surviving a home fire if you have
working smoke alarms.
This upcoming weekend, when we adjust our clocks back 1 hour
we also need to change the batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide (CO)
alarms as well. Smoke and CO alarms
should be tested on the Safety First Day of every month to ensure they are
working.
A new law will go into effect on January 1st,
2018 requiring all battery operated smoke alarms to be a 10-year, sealed battery, model. 10-year smoke and CO alarms eliminate the
need to change batteries. Firefighters
frequently find smoke alarms not working due to dead or missing batteries. As many as two-thirds of residential fire
fatalities occur in homes with non-working smoke alarms or no smoke alarms at
all. The Maryland State Law will require
homeowners to install 10-year smoke alarms on every level of your home,
primarily just outside of sleeping areas.
Smoke alarms also need to be installed in every bedroom and we encourage
everyone to sleep with their bedroom door closed.
Additionally, families need to plan an escape plan, which
identifies 2 ways out of every room in the house and a safe meeting place
outside.
If any County resident is in need of a working 10-year smoke
alarm and cannot afford to purchase one themselves to call 311. A firefighter will come to your home and
install 1 alarm for you, free of charge.
Any family requiring assistance in planning an exit drill in
your home can contact our Community Risk Reduction program at 301-883-5250.
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