City Targets Unsafe Home Security Bars

Citing concern over preventable fire deaths, city officials Thursday announced a program to get homeowners to remove illegally installed security bars from windows throughout Los Angeles.

In October, the Fire Department will launch a public education campaign aimed at getting illegal bars removed, while building inspectors will step up efforts to cite those with the dangerous security devices, according to Fire Capt. Steve Ruda.

Fire officials estimate there are about 10,000 homes in the city with illegal security bars.

“We understand the need for security, but we as firefighters see the illegal bars as blocking the evacuation routes from homes,” Ruda said.

Last November two women and a 4-year-old boy died in a fire that swept through an East Los Angeles bungalow with security bars not equipped with the quick-release mechanisms that are now required.

“Each year lives are tragically lost because of illegally installed security bars,” City Council President Alex Padilla said. “It is imperative that Angelenos be educated on how to properly install security bars.”

Padilla said he will ask the council next week to create a task force to plan ways to eliminate the illegally installed bars, including setting up a program to provide financial assistance to low-income families.

Padilla said the Housing and Aging departments should develop a pilot program to offer financial assistance to low-income residents who want to install quick-release mechanisms on their security bars.

“Many working families throughout the city cannot afford to pay the cost of properly retrofitting security bars with a quick-release mechanism,” he said.

Citing the deaths of 26 Los Angeles residents in home fires last year, Padilla said some of them might have escaped if properly installed security bars were on windows.

In the past three years, at least 15 people died in structures where security bars were a contributing factor to the fatalities, Battalion Chief Greg Gibson said.

City law requires security bars on bedroom windows to be equipped with emergency release mechanisms that can be triggered inside the house within 30 seconds, Ruda said.

But Ruda said many bars are welded to window frames or secured with padlocks that cannot be easily opened, especially by children.