Off the Publisher 5-3-2023

Another fire death

Fire at a home in Dunn County’s Tiffany Township took the life of a rural Downing man, early Monday morning, Details were not available when his column was written shortly before noon on Monday.

Glenwood City Fire Fighters asked for and received help in fighting the house fire from Boyceville and United Fire. The fire and death is under investigation by the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office and the Dunn County Medical Examiner.

This death is the fourth fire death in Dunn County this year. Two fire deaths have been reported in the Menomonie area, one near Connorsville and this death in Tiffany Township.

I would like to express my sincere heart felt sympathy to the family and friends of the victim and to those others who were lost in those fires.

As of this year 893 people have dies in home fires in the United States in addition 27 firefighters have perished due to house fires.

Fire prevention week is the second week in October, but maybe this week we can review what you should do to protect yourself and your family from the danger of home fires.

First, don’t give fire a place to start. Kept areas in your home clear and free from combustibles and store flammable materials properly. Store gasoline in red containers only and other fuels in the proper type of containers.

Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, inside bedrooms, and out side of sleeping areas.

Test smoke alarms every month. If they’re not working, change the batteries. What I do is during the National Fire Prevention Week, even if the batteries are good, I change them and make an annual event of changing the batteries.

Talk with all family members about an escape plan and practice the plan twice a year. You may have only two minutes to get out of your home after you hear a smoke alarm sounding.

If fire occurs in your home, Get out, stay out and call for help. Never go back inside for anything or anyone.

If you have a fire, call 911 and a trained dispatcher will handle your call and get information and notify the appropriate emergency service.

National Fire Prevention week was created to observe each year the Great Chicago Fire that began on October 8, 1871 and caused devastating damage. This horrific conflagration killed 250 people, left 100,000 homeless, destroyed more than 17,400 structures and burned more than 2,000 acres of land.

But the Great Chicago Fire pales in size to a fire on the same day and that fire was a forest fire called the Peshtigo Fire at Peshtigo, Wisconsin. That fire burned 1.2 million acres of woods, several villages and the number of deaths has been estimated at somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500.

So don’t give fire a place to start.

Thanks for reading!     ~Carlton