Gas Furnace Tragedy Serves as a Warning : Deaths in Palmdale Should Spur People to Safeguard Homes

The wall furnace that recently killed two Palmdale children and endangered the lives of six other people had not been serviced in quite some time, according to a spokesman for the Southern California Gas Co. Its badly clogged vent and flue thus spread deadly carbon monoxide fumes throughout the home. The incident serves as a graphic warning as the weather grows colder and various forms of heating equipment are fired up in the Valleys for the first time in many months. It would be foolish to ignore the potential for more tragedies.

There is much to consider here, and a great deal can be done to safeguard your home and family. Preventive steps are important because local fire departments are so overworked and understaffed.

The good news is that smoke detectors that also sound alarms when dangerous levels of carbon monoxide are present are now beginning to reach the marketplace. The bad news is that they have to be maintained, with fresh batteries, just like most other systems--and too many of us are lousy at living up to this most simple of home safety responsibilities.

The International Assn. of Fire Chiefs in Fairfax, Va., encourages changing smoke detector batteries during the autumn daylight savings time change. If you still haven’t done it, now would be a good time. That’s because the other result of poorly maintained or improperly used heating systems is fire.

The U.S. Fire Administration’s National Fire Academy, in Emmettsburg, Md., annually trains 7,000 firefighters and other emergency service personnel from around the nation. Its deputy superintendent, Jim Coyle, says each home heating option carries its own particular dangers.

Wood stoves, for example, ought to be hooked up by a licensed installer, not the local handyman, and attached to flues that can handle constant use. Creosote builds up four times faster in wood stoves than it does in recreational use fireplaces, and that buildup ought to be monitored once a month.

Too often, Coyle says, electric heaters are placed too close to combustible materials or have frayed wiring that could ignite flammable materials. Such heaters are also not built for constant use and should be turned off periodically to prevent overheating and short circuits.

Kerosene heaters, Coyle says, have been outlawed in many states precisely because they are among the most dangerous ways to heat a home. It’s easy to use the wrong fuel in them, and they require regular cleaning. Obvious problems result if they are tipped over during use, and users too often fail to realize that you must allow such heaters to cool before adding more kerosene.

With gas heaters and furnaces, owners should check regularly to make certain that their pilot lights are on. If that pilot is ever extinguished, many fire departments suggest that residents call gas company technicians rather than try to relight the pilot on their own.

There is one other seemingly unrelated matter of fire safety that ought to be considered here. In areas where crime is a concern, the same burglar bars that are designed to keep the crooks out may severely limit your options in the event of a fire.

The worst, Coyle says, are bars that do not even have locks that can be opened in the event of a fire. Those that have locks are only slightly better since you may not have the presence of mind to remember where the keys are, if you can get to them. The best are so-called “panic bars” that can be easily released and shoved open from the inside, without a key.

Finally, it pays to have well-practiced escape routes from every room in the home. That’s because a fully functioning smoke detector, according to Coyle, gives you about two or three minutes to get safely out of your home. You can’t possibly need a better incentive than that.