House fires highlight need for alarms

KATE FISHER
Two Hawke's Bay house fires that occurred within 24 hours and left their owners with virtually no possessions were a sobering reminder of the importance of fire alarm in homes.
Shane and Susie Tilson's dreams were shattered when their Otane villa burnt to the ground on Sunday. They and their daughters Brittany, seven, and Ellie, six, arrived home as the roof was falling in and, although no one was hurt, their dreams of renovating went up in flames.
Less than 24 hours later in Tamatea, Myra Nicholson could only watch as her precious photographs and belongings were engulfed by flames. A spark from the open fire landed on the couch, which was believed to have started the fire.
Dannevirke Fire Safety Officer Mike Finucane said in both circumstances smoke alarms were installed.
But because the family in Otane were out, and they were in a reasonably rural area, the alarms would not have made a difference, Mr Finucane said.
The alarms in the Tamatea house would also have not made much of a difference as two of Mrs Nicholson's children had discovered the fire. But the house had a number of smoke alarms without batteries in them, Mr Finucane said.
"Many people get annoyed about the beeping and take the batteries out," he said.
"But what I say to people is 'if it's beeping, at least it's doing its job'.
"You've still got to have them because, as we all know, you lose your sense of smell when you sleep, so a smoke alarm could save your life."
But as much as the fire service stresses this point, it hasn't got the resources to go door knocking in Hawke's Bay, assistant fire commander for the Eastern region Alan Bamber said.
However, Mr Bamber, who is based in Napier, said that surprisingly 85 percent of homes in the Eastern region have fire alarms, which is higher than the national average.
He said he had seen a large number of injuries or deaths that would not have occurred if people had had smoke alarms in their homes, but people didn't realise it was the whole package.
"It is the escape plan that saves people," he said. He said people often went back into houses to find other people, unaware that they had escaped from another part of the house.
"People don't realise that staying behind to make that 111 call from your own phone could mean you don't make it out," he said.
The fire service ambassador teams have door knocked in high-risk rural fire zones in the around Gisborne and Wairoa.
The programme involved working alongside communities and a number of government organisations, including WINZ, ACC and Housing NZ.
Mr Bamber said the two-year-old Kotahitanga (unity) programme, had delivered positive results, with some people having been saved from fires as a direct result.