Fires Prompt Plea to Use, Test Smoke Detectors

Two children playing with matches started unrelated fires this week--one of which caused the death of a 4-year-old girl--prompting the San Diego Fire Department to issue a plea urging parents to teach children about fire safety and to install and test smoke detectors.

“Parents should be aware of matches or lighters they have in the house, and should put them up where their children can’t get to them,” firefighter Jennifer Simpson said. “Parents should also teach children what a fire can do.” Simpson said the department is working on a fire-safety program for preschool students.

A 3-year-old boy was playing with matches when a fire started in a bedroom on the ground floor of a two-story apartment complex at 4115 Altadena Ave., according to Fire Capt. Allan MacDonald. The child was in the living room with his father watching television when the father saw smoke coming from the bedroom shortly before 11 a.m.

The boy apparently had slipped away unnoticed and started the fire. No one was injured in the blaze, which caused $20,000 worth of damage.

Later Thursday, 4-year-old Nunce Enriques died in an apartment fire at 1541 S. 38th St. She was playing with matches when the fire started about 5 p.m. in a second-floor unit of a two-story apartment building.

Four other people, including the girl’s 17-year-old uncle, who was baby-sitting, escaped without injury, Simpson said.

The four who escaped were in a back bedroom with the door closed while the victim played by herself in the living room. When they smelled smoke, they opened the door to find the living room engulfed in flames. They jumped to safety through the bedroom window. Damage to the building was estimated at $75,000.

MacDonald said fire inspectors will issue notices of violation to the apartment owners, requiring them to immediately install smoke detectors.

The Uniform Fire Code requires detectors to be installed near sleeping areas in each multi-unit apartment building, MacDonald said.

The apartments on Altadena and South 38th did not have smoke detectors, fire officials said.

MacDonald said the fires occurred in the midst of state-designated “Smoke Detector Month.” The California fire marshal has initiated a billboard campaign titled “Is Your Smoke Detector Working?” and “Smoke Detectors Save Lives.”

About 80% of homes have smoke detectors, but only 50% are working, MacDonald said.

“Thirty percent of the smoke detectors installed in homes are not working because of lack of maintenance, lack of batteries or because they are improperly installed or in a poor location,” he said.

He urged residents to obtain detectors and test them monthly. “It takes only a minute to push the test button once a month. It’s a life-saving feature.

“For $10 or $20, you can buy the cheapest form of life insurance,” MacDonald said. “But it is only effective if it is working.

“There’s a real good chance that if there had been a working smoke detector in the (38th Street) apartment, the child probably would still be alive,” he said.