Turned-Off Fire Alarm May Be Tied to Deaths

A fire-alarm system in a home for disabled adults had been switched off, which may have contributed to the deaths of three people and the injuries to five others in a fire at the home Thursday, El Cajon fire officials said Monday.

Mike Carson, an investigator with the El Cajon Fire Department, said that the main fire alarm at the Linda Turman Home was connected to three horns, which did not sound because a switch had been turned off. Carson said that a battery-operated smoke alarm located outside of one of the resident’s rooms had gone off but that it was probable that the batteries were low and the alarm had not sounded loudly.

“From the descriptions given to us, it appears that the smoke alarm was not real loud,” Carson said. “The horns connected to the main alarm system were very loud, though. I would like to think that everyone would have gotten out alive if these horns had gone off.”

Tom Hersant, district manager for the state Department of Social Services’ Community Care Licensing Division, the agency that licenses the facility, said the Linda Turman Home may have been in violation of licensing requirements if it is confirmed that the alarm system was disabled.

Hersant said that if the licensing division confirms it, investigators would try to determine when it was turned off, by whom and if staff negligence were involved. The outcome of the investigation could determine if other facilities that Turman owns will continue to be licensed, Hersant said.

“An unarmed (alarm) system would be in violation of licensing requirements,” Hersant said. “We would also be looking to see if this were attributable to staff negligence or training and if there is reason to believe that similar problems exist at the other facilities.”

Linda Turman and her husband run six other state-licensed facilities, three for the developmentally disabled and three for the mentally handicapped.

The license of the burned facility was scheduled to expire on March 24. A renewal visit in January by state inspectors showed the home’s fire alarm system to be in order, officials said.

El Cajon Fire Marshal Richard Henry said the home was equipped with a smoke detector and a heat detector, which activates the main alarm system when intense heat is detected. Henry said that the alarm system itself was functioning but the alarm could not be heard because the switch controlling the horn was turned off.

“Right now it is still unclear as to who turned the alarm switch off,” Henry said.

Henry said that Naomi Raleigh, the residence manager, was in the home when the fire started. Neither Raleigh nor Turman could be reached for comment Monday.

Henry said that fire investigators have determined that the fire started in a couch in the home’s day care room and may have been sparked by a malfunctioning electric wall heating unit.

“The heater was a store-bought unit that ran along the baseboard, and it is being analyzed by technicians to determine if there was some malfunction,” Henry said.

The fire was reported at 11:23 p.m. Thursday at the board and care home for developmentally disabled adults at 1280 Clarendon St. The bodies of two residents, Patty Anne Melton, 33, and Pietra Corrao, 47, were found in a charred bedroom of the single-story, wood frame home after the fire. A third resident, Mark Buis, 33, died Sunday morning from burns suffered in the fire. Buis’ wife, Debbie, 33, remains in critical condition at UC San Diego Medical Center with second- and third-degree burns over 25% of her body. Three other residents who were hospitalized for smoke inhalation were released over the weekend, UCSD Medical Center spokeswoman Sheri Smith said.

Fire officials said that 14 disabled residents were living at the facility. The survivors were transferred to an adjoining independent living center, also owned by Turman. The independent living center provided no care and supervision and did not require a license, Hersant said.

Fire officials said that the fire was reported by someone who dialed the 911 emergency number. Investigators have not determined if the call came from inside of the burned residence or from someone outside.

Although units from the El Cajon fire station--located about a half-mile away from the home--arrived on the scene three minutes after the fire was reported, there has been some speculation that a fire station about 100 yards away from the home, but in a different fire district, might have been able to respond more quickly to the alarm.

The Bostonia Fire Protection District station is a part of the countywide mutual aid agreement but is not a part of the regional Hartland automatic aid agreement to respond to fires outside of its district boundaries. Fire districts that belong to the Hartland agreement include Lakeside, Santee, El Cajon, Lemon Grove and Spring Valley.

El Cajon Fire Chief Roger House said that Bostonia is not a part of the agreement because it does not meet the requirements for belonging.

“There are certain criteria, such as having 24-hour staffing available, that up till now they have not been able to meet,” House said. “They have to have the type of equipment and personnel that we can depend on to come under the agreement.”

House said that Bostonia did the right thing by not sending units to the fire.

“If they had sent out trucks and laid lines it might have been more confusing because we don’t train with them,” House said. “The fact that they did not respond did not cause any additional damage to the structure or to lives because they knew that we (El Cajon) were only 30 seconds further away.”

Bostonia Fire Chief Darrell Jobes said Monday that because Bostonia does not belong to the Hartland aid group its station did not appear on the main dispatcher’s list of stations that could respond. Jobes said that the Bostonia station did respond by helping to keep other residents away from the burning home, and that it was determined that there was no time to send engines to the scene.

Jobes also said that Bostonia had submitted a request in January to become part of the Hartland agreement and was awaiting response from the district.

“This year we have been able to meet the requirements of having a three-person engine company available 24 hours a day and are awaiting word from the other members of the district,” Jobes said.