Business to Donate 500 Smoke Detectors

Huntington Beach officials announced Tuesday that the Rainbow Disposal Co. will donate 500 smoke detectors to be distributed free to day-care centers, senior citizens and lower-income residents in response to a fire that killed two children in a local day-care facility in June. “The tragedy that killed those two children was one that could have been avoided,” Huntington Beach Fire Department Chief Raymond C. Picard said at a press conference where the $2,500 donation was announced. “Prevention is the key word in avoiding the same situation from occurring again, and this is what this act will hopefully aid in doing.”

The Huntington Beach Firemen’s Assn. will install smoke detectors for senior citizens. Day-care centers were asked to pick up smoke detectors from the Fire Department’s headquarters on Main Street.

“This fund will hopefully help and encourage education of the people operating our day-care centers and caring for our children,” said Patty Reilly, whose 13-month-old son, John W. Reilly IV, died in the June 8 day-care center fire. “Parents also need to know the rules so they will know if where they leave their child should have an extinguisher or smoke detector or both.”

Jack and another child were killed and two others were injured in a fire--started by a cigarette lighter--that gutted a Huntington Beach day-care center situated in a home. The home had a fire extinguisher but not a smoke detector.

In July, the governor signed a law requiring all licensed day-care centers to install smoke detectors. Before, the law permitted licensed day-care homes with fewer than seven children to rely solely on fire extinguishers for protection.

In an effort to reach day-care operators without licenses, Huntington Beach officials have passed an ordinance requiring all residences to install detectors in their homes.

Fire officials estimate that there are 183 licensed day-care centers in the Huntington Beach area; the number of people caring for children in their homes without licenses is unknown.

The Reillys on Tuesday asked for support for the Jack Reilly Day Care Safety fund, established shortly after the fire to implement changes in day-care laws.

They also expressed bitterness about the quality of care at the facility where their son died.

Pat Orozco, the operator of the day-care center destroyed by the blaze, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But Orozco’s son, Joe Sartain, 28, of Garden Grove, said his mother “feels just as bad about it as everyone else does.”

Staff writer Catherine Gewertz contributed to this story.