Officials Warn About Peril of Window Security Bars

Concerned that poor, inner-city residents are at high risk of being trapped in home fires, Los Angeles officials launched a campaign Wednesday in South Los Angeles to publicize the dangers of window security bars.

The move was prompted by a rash of fatal fires in South Los Angeles and a Times article about the dangers of security bars that lack the required emergency release latches.

About 30 representatives from various South Los Angeles community groups attended a town hall meeting at a Slauson Avenue fire station to discuss security bars and other household fire hazards. The meeting was hosted by the Los Angeles Fire Department and City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents parts of South Los Angeles.

“This is what community-based firefighting is all about,” the councilman said.

Last month, an elderly couple in Jefferson Park were killed in an early morning house fire. Firefighters’ efforts to rescue them were hampered by the wrought-iron security bars on the doors and windows. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

In November, an 18-month-old girl died in a Hyde Park apartment fire started when her 5-year-old sister was playing with matches, perhaps while blowing out candles as practice for her birthday.

Building inspectors and firefighters say the potential for more deaths in inner-city neighborhoods is great because many of the homes have antiquated heaters and faulty electrical wires. In addition, absentee landlords often don’t install smoke detectors in rental homes and apartments, they say.

A Los Angeles City Fire Department official estimated that nearly half of the homes in South-Central and on the Eastside are potential death traps because they have security bars that lack the release mechanism required by law.

“If you put security bars on your window, they should not lock you in,” said Fire Capt. Kwame Cooper, one of the organizers of the meeting.

In recent years, state lawmakers have adopted regulations concerning security bars, but the National Fire Protection Assn. contends that not enough is being done to enforce them. It suggests that local building inspectors and firefighters begin door-to-door inspections to identify illegal security bars. But city and county firefighters and building inspectors say such sweeps are too costly.

The problem is compounded by a proliferation of unlicensed installers who, to save money, often fail to include the release mechanisms. The safety devices cost about $60 each on new bars and $100 apiece for existing bars.