MEDIA CONTACT: Mark E. Brady, Chief Spokesperson, 240-508-7930
mebrady@co.pg.md.us @PGFDPIO
“Laws We Can Live With”
Occupants of a Springdale home are safe and their home
sustaining minimal fire damage today thanks to laws enacted by County leaders
in the 1980’s and 90’s. At about 1:45
am, 3 occupants were awakened by the piercing warning signal emitted by an
activated smoke alarm. Once alerted they
smelled and saw smoke and exited the house to call 911. A fire of an undetermined cause was burning
in the basement. The smoke caused the
smoke alarm to activate and heat from the fire caused the residential sprinkler
system to start flowing water in the area of high heat.
Firefighters from the nearby St. Josephs Fire/EMS Station
806 arrived quickly at the 2-story, 3156 sq. ft., single-family home built in
1998, in the 10200 block of Thundercloud Court.
Firefighters located the fire and ensured complete extinguishment. The area on fire had been held in check by
the sprinklers. Fire loss damage was
minimized to $1,000 thanks to the residential sprinklers. The County Citizen Services Unit and the
American Red Cross assisted the occupants and their pet with temporary
shelter. Displacement will be for days
instead of months or years. Another
benefit of early awareness of a fire is that there were no injuries to
civilians and firefighters.
In 1982, the fire department requested legislation to
require a working smoke alarm in existing homes and in all new
construction. This law was passed by the
County Council and became law in 1982.
In late 1980’s, County fire service leaders saw the need for
residential sprinklers to be installed in all new construction. Again, legislation was dratted and received
approval from the County Council requiring a phased-in approach to residential
sprinklers installation in all new construction built after January 1992. We were the first County in the Nation to have this type of legislation at that time.
The enactment of these two laws have saved countless lives
and limited fire loss to homes equipped with residential sprinklers. There has never been a fatality in a single family home equipped with a residential sprinkler system since this law was enacted. Prince George’s County residents and
businesses are still reaping the benefits of these laws as was evidenced in
this mornings Springdale home fire.
A more recent County legislation requires the installation
of a working carbon monoxide (CO) detector on every level of your home. This law includes all existing residences
that have a gas service for cooking, heating and other gas appliances, a
fireplace and/or an attached garage.
This law went into effect on July 1, 2014.
Starting January 1, 2015 a Maryland State Law requires a phase-in approach to all
homes currently protected by a 9-volt battery powered smoke alarm. The older alarms have served us well for a long time, however, residents will need to upgrade and install 10-year lithium powered smoke alarms that are tamper proof (can not
remove battery) and have a hush feature to silence accidental activations. The law requires a new alarm on every level
of your home and near sleeping areas.
The 10-year smoke alarms will help to reduce the high number of fire fatalities
from occurring in homes with no alarms or an alarm with dead or missing
batteries.
The introduction of 10-year smoke alarm is the greatest innovation to these life saving devices since the invention of smoke alarms themselves.
Residential sprinklers, 10-year smoke alarms and carbon
monoxide detectors are all laws we can live with.
The Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department highly
recommends the use of a 10-year combination smoke/CO alarm where they are appropriate. Alarms can be purchased at home improvement
and hardware stores.
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