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Home Security Hampers Detroit Firefighters In Fatal House Fire
WDIV
Reprinted with Permission
DETROIT - A 54-year-old Detroit woman died Thursday after her home on Nashville Street caught fire.
Detroit Fire Battalion Chief Gary Stirzinger said firefighters lost precious minutes getting to Irene Smith Spencer because her home's windows were secured with bars and her front door was steel.
"Those bars are really bad. They protect you from your B and Es but they keep you from getting out in the case of a fire," he said.
Stirzinger said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Local 4 cameras captured Spencer being taken out of her house by medical crews and transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Crews at the scene said the woman had been overtaken by smoke.
Teresa Powell identified herself as Spencer's godsister. She said Spencer had lived in the home on the city's east side for decades.
"She's the only one left out of her immediate family. Her mom, her dad and her only son are all passed away," Powell said.
Neighbor Marty Adams said Spencer was well-liked but had installed the bars in her home about two years ago because of threats.
"People were talking about breaking into her house and doing different things to her," he said.
Family members said Spencer lived with three small dogs and cat, and that only one dog survived.
Copyright 2011 by ClickOnDetroit.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Reprinted with Permission
DETROIT - A 54-year-old Detroit woman died Thursday after her home on Nashville Street caught fire.
Detroit Fire Battalion Chief Gary Stirzinger said firefighters lost precious minutes getting to Irene Smith Spencer because her home's windows were secured with bars and her front door was steel.
"Those bars are really bad. They protect you from your B and Es but they keep you from getting out in the case of a fire," he said.
Stirzinger said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Local 4 cameras captured Spencer being taken out of her house by medical crews and transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Crews at the scene said the woman had been overtaken by smoke.
Teresa Powell identified herself as Spencer's godsister. She said Spencer had lived in the home on the city's east side for decades.
"She's the only one left out of her immediate family. Her mom, her dad and her only son are all passed away," Powell said.
Neighbor Marty Adams said Spencer was well-liked but had installed the bars in her home about two years ago because of threats.
"People were talking about breaking into her house and doing different things to her," he said.
Family members said Spencer lived with three small dogs and cat, and that only one dog survived.
Copyright 2011 by ClickOnDetroit.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John L. Odom on
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This is a real dilemma faced by people in high-crime localities.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Gemberling on
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Not really sure where to go with this comment. It's happening everywhere. With price of fuel last year, I fired up the electric oven for a while to take the chill out. Just to save fuel and it was cheaper than fuel oil. I never left it unattended. If you look at the home, it is of brick construction with very little insulation. The call came too late here. Very little exterior damage but it a brick home and CO is CO. We will see a lot more of these I'm afraid. As far as the bars, I can't comment. I can say it would suck. The closest I could come would be responding 13 miles to a fire only to find the road gate locked.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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This is indeed a dilemma for people in high crime areas, and it is a special problem in places like Detroit that have so many problems and a shrinking tax base.
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Regardless of whether the call was delayed or not, the point is that anti-crime building features slow down both criminals and firefighters.
There is no guarantee that an earlier call for help would have saved this victim, due to the entry delay inevitable caused by having to force entry through fortified entry points.
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Ben, coming from a big city(MPLS) to a town of 4000 has been a radical change. I will agree however when FF's try to breach a home with barred windows, that's gonna suck. I wasn't making a comment on response time whatsoever. We cover almost 600 Sq. Miles. Enough said. In hindsight, high crime areas will have the bars. Or boobytraps for that matter.
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