Here are some pictures for you to look at! Let me explain them to you. After you click on them remember to use your back button on your browser to return!
Pic #1
In order to save on electric payments the wall mounted thermostats were unscrewed, left hanging, and one wire was cut! This was done in the dinette area, and also in the bathroom. Click Here
Pic #2
This picture is of an electrical outlet directly below the thermostat you saw in Pic #1. See if you can count how many plugs are in this outlet!...hint: you almost run out of fingers to count on. The answer is tooooo tooooo many!Click Here
Pic #3
This picture is of the dinette area. Notice to the right of the picture is the outlet, and directly above is the thermostat you saw in the 2 previous pictures. Look beneath the TV on the floor; yes another portable electric heater! Look at the outlet near the lamp stand.
Yes another overloaded outlet.Remember the lampstand as a reference to the next picture!Click Here
Pic #4
This picture is of the burnt chair. This small fire is what caused all the heat, and smoke damage? The lampstand is alongside of chair. Notice to the left of chair is the dinette table. Also standing against the table is the lense from the skylight!The
melted portion was directly above the chair. The chair was the only actual "fire" damage. The gentleman must have fallen asleep and his cigarette fell down in the cushion of the chair.Click Here
Pic #5
In this picture I'm holding the skylight cover lense. Notice how it's melted directly over the most burnt part of the chair! A good indicator as to initial point of fire.Click Here
Pic #6
This picture was taken with the burnt chair removed. Look at the v-shaped pattern! The two markings on the wall were where some plastic pictures were hung from. You can see one of them on the floor in the right hand corner of the picture. The other one is on the table beside the Christmas treeClick Here
Pic #7
This picture is of the apartment looking from the dinette area. To the right is your kitchenette, the door you see to your left is the door to the bathroom. Straight ahead is the doorway to the bedroom. The victim was found on the floor at the foot of the bed and extending into the bedroom doorway. Notice
how things are melting 3 feet down from the ceiling. Also notice above the bedroom door. Yep!! You guessed it! The famous batteryless smoke detector!! People...PLEASE! listen, they do not...I repeat DO NOT! work without batteries. Please keep a battery in them. A good time to change the battery is every New Year!
Start of your New Years right. Put a new battery in your smoke detectors!! Please..I beg you!! THIS JUST MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE!!Click Here
Pic #8
This picture tells it all! The famous "batteryless that's supposed to let you know when there's a fire smoke detector!" Only problem is there is no such thing! They still need batteries to let you know something is wrong!Click Here
Pic #9
This picture was taken right outside of the bathroom. Bathroom doorway is to the right of the picture! Hey!! Look on the floor. Another portable electric heater! Notice the extension cord running under the carpet in the bathroom. Yep. the heater plugged in there too!Click Here
Pic #10
This picture was taken from inside the shower of the bathroom. And before you ask...NO! I was not taking one! Notice the plastic light cover and how it's melted! This is the other thermostat I was telling you about! Again it was unscrewed from the wall and a wire was cut! Notice the smoke level and how low it is.Click Here
Pic #11
This picture was taken from inside the bathroom again looking at the kitchenette area. Again, notice the smoke level, and how he had stuffed towels between the stove and cabinets. I guess he didn't bake too much!!Click Here
Pic #12
This picture was taken in the bedroom. Again notice the smoke level, especially look at his pillow in the middle of the bed! You can see the smoke fingers that came down along the wall hanging!! You guessed it..right at his head!! You can also see the smoke on his mattress. Talk about a lucky man!! The "Good Lord" was a watchin over him this night!!Click Here
Summary:
Can you believe the small burn area of this one small chair caused all this smoke & heat damage? Well it did! Imagine what damage would occur had this fire spread more. Careless smoking caused this fire. The gentleman was saved!
Did a smoke detector save his life?? No it did not! There wasn't a battery in it! So what did? Some may say it wasn't his time to go. Others may say the Lord was watching over him. This may all be true, BUT, our fire station is only two[2] blocks away from his apartment! We were there in a few minutes after receiving the alarm.
If this apartment was three miles away instead of two blocks... well I truly believe this man would not be alive today! A few minutes longer in responding would have made the difference between life and death!! So ,what did save him? #1 The quick responce time #2 The great job by our firefighters that pulled him out from the apartment! That's what saved him!!
Are YOU willing to take a chance with YOUR life and YOUR FAMILIES lives?
Not everyone is LUCKY enough to have a fire company a block or two away from them! A battery in this smoke detector would have saved MANY minutes. He would have been out of his apartment by the time we got there!! Add minutes, hours, months, and years to your life!! Keep your smoke detector working properly ! Change your batteries atleast once a year! I hope I, or anyone else, never have to see pictures like this of YOUR place!!