Smoke alarms installed in East Tampa homes after tragic fire
Tuesday morning, that combination proved fatal for a 61-year-old woman and two of her grandchildren, ages 3 and 8. On Wednesday, firefighters, fire officials and the
Officials from
The coalition of firefighters and
Jenkins said he began driving around the neighborhood early Wednesday when a house with panic-release burglar bars caught his eye. After he knocked on the door, the woman who lives there invited him inside to inspect the smoke detectors.
"Not a one had a battery," Jenkins said. "She said, 'I took the battery out and put it in my radio.'"
The new smoke detectors, Jenkins said, have a 10-year lifespan with sealed battery compartments to prevent tampering.
Jenkins said he talked to about five people from the neighborhood Tuesday night, none of whom had smoke detectors or fire extinguishers in their home.
"The people I talked to that did have burglar bars -- none of them had the quick-release devices," he said.
Burglar bars without a quick-release option cover the windows and front door of the house at
Television stations WTSP --
Fire officials said the blaze started at an overloaded power strip in the northeast bedroom where an air conditioner's power cord had been spliced from a three-pronged plug to a two-pronged plug.
Jenkins said old-style metal burglar bars serve their purpose of keeping out intruders but come with a serious fire risk because they need to be cut or pried off the wall, increasing the likelihood someone could be trapped inside.
"I think society has come to realize that the way they were installed in years past was not necessarily safe in the event there was an emergency," Jenkins said. "So they came up and developed quick-release devices on the inside."
To retrofit existing burglar bars, Jenkins said, the side bars are cut off and a bar with a quick-release option is installed on the inside.
"Just about any fire department is going to tell you putting bars on the windows is a dangerous thing to do," Noyas said.
He said the one certainty is that a smoke detector would have increased the chances of survival.
"It really is a less expensive form of insurance," Noyas said.
According to the
A funeral for the fire victims is planned for
The bodies are being held at
"It hits home for everybody in the community, not just here on this street," she said. "It's something that chldren are involved in; that really hurts."
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