MEDIA CONTACT: Mark E. Brady, Chief Spokesperson, 240-508-7930
mebrady@co.pg.md.us @PGFDPIO
A Landover Hills family is alive and well today after being
awakened by a working smoke alarm at about 3:30 this morning. Firefighters were alerted to a house fire in
the 6800 block of Farragut Street and arrived to find a 1-story, with basement,
duplex with fire and smoke showing from one side. A quick search of both sides of the duplex
resulted in no one being found in the duplex of origin and 2 residents assisted
out of the other half. The fire on the
first floor had extended up into the attic and was soon contained and
extinguished by first arriving firefighters.
Unattended cooking was the cause of the accidental fire that
resulted in an estimated $100,000 in fire loss to the structure and
contents. The family was awakened by a
working smoke alarm that emitted the audible warning of fire. The family exited the home safely prior to
the fire departments arrival. One
resident became emotionally overwhelmed by the situation and was taken to a local
hospital for an evaluation. One
firefighter sustained a minor burn injury while fighting the fire he was treated and released from a burn unit. Both duplex families are displaced and the Office of
Emergency Management is assisting the residents.
A working smoke alarm increases the chances of surviving a
fire in your home by about 50%. 10-year, tamper
proof, with a hush feature smoke alarms should be installed on every level of your home just
outside of sleeping areas and one in every bedroom. Having a 10-year smoke alarm means you will
never have to change a battery again. 10-year alarms will reduce the number of fatalities
that occur in homes found with no smoke alarms or alarms found with a lack of or dead
batteries.
Each home should also have a pre-designed and practiced escape plan which identifies 2 ways out of every room and a safe meeting place
outside. Once out of a burning house,
stay out!!!
Today, Saturday, October 24, firefighters and officials from
the City of Bowie will be going door-to-door checking smoke alarms. Personnel will ask residents if they can check their
smoke alarm to see if it working. If
there is no smoke alarm present or if we find a smoke alarm that is not working and
appears to be 10-years of age or older a new 10-year smoke alarm will be
installed at no cost. This
community risk reduction effort is made possible by a generous donation of new smoke
alarms by Lowes of Bowie and lunch provided to firefighters and city officials
by TJ Elliot’s.
This is our agenda this morning.
Meeting
at Bowie Fire Department Station 819
13008
9th Street, Bowie at 10:00 am
Teams
will visit as many as 88 homes in all in the following areas:
Maple
Ave, from 9th street to 6th Street
Old
Laurel Bowie Rd, from 9th Street to 5th Street (east
side)
6th
Street from Maple Ave to Old Laurel Bowie Rd
7th
Street from Maple Ave to Old Laurel Bowie Rd
8th
Street from Maple Ave to Old Laurel Bowie Rd
Chapel
Ave from 8th Street to 9th Street.
Sunday,
November 1, is the Safety First Day of the month and is also the day we adjust
our clocks back 1 hour for Daylight Saving Time. It is also the time we remind everyone that
when we change our clocks to change the batteries in your smoke and CO alarms
as well. Better yet. If you still have 9-volt battery powered
smoke alarm or your current alarm is 10-years old than consider changing to the
10-year smoke alarms. Never change a
battery again but remember to continue to test all alarms once a month on the
Safety First Day of each month.
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