Two completely unrelated events but part of a pretty wild morning.
I serve as the part-time building official for Ashton, IL, a small town about 12 miles west of Rochelle. I left the house early this morning to follow up on a few issues in Ashton and to swing by my office there to check the mail before I headed back to Rochelle to start my work day here.
First, before I got out of town, I was waiting at an intersection for a semi-truck to pass in front of me before I made my turn when a cat ran full tilt in front of a semi-truck. The front tire of the truck nailed the cat first then the poor thing went under both sets of the tractor’s rear tires. I guess I’ll have to gather it up and ship it off to this place.
Then when I got to Ashton, I was talking to a guy in his driveway about his garage and kept hearing a cracking sound behind me that sounded like it was coming from my truck. I heard it about three times and kept turning around to see what it was but didn’t see anything. About the fourth time I turned around, I saw flames pouring out of the basement window of the house across the street about the same time that another car had stopped and called 911. I called 911 as well and was told that rescue was on it’s way. So I ran across the street to the front door, pulled it open and yelled into the house to see if anyone was in it. The smoke was so thick though that I couldn’t breathe and had to back away. About that time, the neighbors were coming out. One neighbor had the kids of the house in tow. I found out that the 14 year old daughter had been in the basement taking a shower and when she stepped out, she smelled smoke. I understand that her bedroom was also in the basement. She immediately found her brother, grabbed the cat and got out of the house. The single mother was already on her way to work, so according to the neighbors, everyone was accounted for. The last thing I did was to pull the grill and propane tank off the deck right above the flames just before the fire got too intense. Fire and Rescue arrived a split second later. By the time they got set up, the house was pretty much engaged. I understand that the mother had been diligently working on the house with new windows and decorating inside. I was able to hand my business card to the daughter to give to the mother and told her that when things settled down for them, I would help in any way I could.
We’ve been pushing safety here in Rochelle about basement bedrooms and I think this incident has really solidified my stance on necessary basement exits, smoke detectors and other fire protection or warning stuff. Had the fire been earlier and the girl been sleeping, there would have been no way for her to escape and she would have been dead by the time I had arrived on site. The flames were pouring out the one basement window right by the stairs according to the firemen. The only other basement window was a small 8"x12" pane.
Here in Rochelle, we are requiring installation of proper egress windows and smoke detectors if someone wants to put a bedroom in a basement. After this incident, fire safety is getting more personal so I think I’ll remain tough on the issue with our residents.
That’s quite a morning, Bruce. Not to steal your thunder, but as an interesting aside, I would trade with you. I had a woman walk into my office this morning and tell me she was the devil. After a few minutes of this, it was revealed that she had been diagnosed as bipolar, but was refusing to take medicine.
I have to think that, as a pastor, your episode this morning is one of hundreds and is probably pretty mild compared to some of the stuff you see and hear. You live a life of being on call 24/7. Although I was almost headed off to seminary once upon a time, I think I’ll keep my current life and live in admiration of yours.
That is just wrong. No good day can start before coffee is consumed.
When I read the tread title, thinking the cat had died in the fire, I immediately though of my early Claim Adjuster training regarding Arson investigations. Basically it went like this: If you find Fido or Fluffy in the ashes, it wasn’t arson. No homeowner is going to torch their family pet on purpose.
What are your codes on egress from attic occupancies? I’ve seen some Lofts that are real fire traps too.
The code uses the term ‘sleeping room’ instead of bedroom to include things like lofts and other unusual set-ups. R310.1 of the International Residential Code says that “every sleeping room shall have at least one openable emergency escape and rescue opening”, usually a window. Then it gives very detailed specs and dimensions on how the escape opening is to be set up or installed. I can fax some pages to you if you’d like. An emergency escape and rescue opening is different than the regular bedroom door. The emergency opening needs to open to the exterior of the building for two purposes; to provide escape for the occupant and to admit fire and rescue personnel to the interior of the building.
The fire code goes a bit further saying that once a person escapes, the egress route needs to continue. So in the event of an attic sleeping room, an emergency escape window would have to also provide a pathway to ground or an area of rescue.
Secondly, residential code says that sleeping rooms must also be outfitted with smoke detectors both within the room itself and then immediately outside the room. The detectors must be wired so that if detector anywhere in the house sounds, they all sound.
One additional requirement from the electrical code; panel breakers of sleeping room circuits must be of the arc-fault type.
Sleep well. Your friendly neighborhood code official is awake and on duty (I think I’ll have another cup of coffee)