• Central Mass. fire prevention grants

Central Mass. distribution of Student Awareness in Fire Education (S.A.F. E.) grants and Senior SAFE grants, FY2014-FY2016
DNA = Did not apply

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• • • Fire program rings an alarm for Central Mass. seniors
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• Posted Mar. 4, 2016 at 1:10 PM
  Updated Mar 4, 2016 at 9:51 PM
  
  

  	FY2014 grants		FY2015 grants		FY2016 grants
  	S.A.F.E.	Senior SAFE	S.A.F.E.	Senior SAFE	S.A.F.E.	Senior SAFE
  Ashburnham	DNA	DNA	DNA	DNA	$4,237	$2,716
  Athol	$4,086	DNA	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Auburn	$4,686	$3,018	$5,023	$2,995	$4,837	$2,917
  Ayer	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Blackstone	$4,086	DNA	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Boylston	$3,186	$2,518	$3,523	$2,495	DNA	DNA
  Brimfield	$3,186	$2,518	DNA	DNA	DNA	DNA
  Brookfield	$3,186	$2,518	$3,523	$2,495	$3,337	$2,417
  Charlton	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Devens	$3,186	$2,518	$3,523	$2,495	$3,337	$2,417
  Douglas	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Dudley	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  East Brookfield	$3,186	$2,518	$3,523	$2,495	DNA	DNA
  Fitchburg	$5,786	$3,218	$6,123	$3,195	$5,937	$3,115
  Gardner	$4,686	$3,018	$5,023	$2,995	$4,837	$2,917
  Harvard	DNA	DNA	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Holden	$4,686	$3,018	$5,023	$2,995	$4,837	$2,917
  Holland	$3,186	$2,518	$3,523	$2,495	$3,337	$2,417
  Hopedale	$7,086	$3,418	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Hubbardston	DNA	DNA	DNA	DNA	$3,337	$2,417
  Hudson	$4,686	$3,018	$5,023	$2,995	$4,837	$2,917
  Lancaster	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Leicester	$4,086	DNA	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Leominster	$5,786	$3,218	$6,123	$3,195	$5,937	$3,115
  Lunenburg	$2,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Marlboro	$5,786	$3,217	$6,123	$3,195	$5,937	$3,115
  Mendon	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Milford	$4,686	$3,018	$5,023	$2,995	$4,837	DNA
  Millbury	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Millville	$3,186	$2,518	$3,523	$2,495	$3,337	$2,417
  Northbridge	$4,686	$3,018	$5,023	$2,995	$4,837	$2,917
  Orange	DNA	DNA	$2,423	DNA	$4,237	DNA
  Oxford	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Paxton	$3,186	$2,518	$3,523	$2,495	$3,337	$2,417
  Phillipston	DNA	DNA	$2,423	$2,495	$3,337	$2,417
  Princeton	$3,186	$2,518	$3,523	$2,495	DNA	DNA
  Rutland	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Shrewsbury	$5,786	$3,218	$6,123	$3,195	$5,937	$3,115
  Southboro	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Southbridge	$4,686	$3,018	$5,023	$2,995	$4,837	$2,917
  Spencer	$4,086	DNA	$4,423	DNA	$4,237	DNA
  Sterling	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Sturbridge	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Sutton	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Townsend	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	DNA	DNA
  Upton	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Uxbridge	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Wales	DNA	DNA	$3,523	$2,495	DNA	DNA
  Ware	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Warren	$4,086	DNA	DNA	DNA	$4,237	DNA
  Webster	$4,686	$3,018	$5,023	$2,995	$4,837	$2,917
  West Boylston	$4,086	$2,818	DNA	DNA	$4,237	$2,716
  West Brookfield	$3,186	$2,518	$3,523	$2,495	$3,337	$2,417
  Westboro	$4,686	$3,018	$5,023	$2,995	$4,837	$2,917
  Westminster	$4,086	$2,818	$4,423	$2,795	$4,237	$2,716
  Worcester	$10,786	$3,618	$11,123	$3,595	$10,937	$3,515

  Source: Mass. Department of Fire Services
  

  T&G Staff/DON LANDGREN JR.

• Fire program rings an alarm for Central Mass. seniors

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Worcester Fire Lt. Annemarie Pickett shows Barbara Demauro, 78, how to check the battery in her smoke detector. 
T&G Staff/Christine Hochkeppel
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• • • Central Mass. fire prevention grants
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• By Elaine Thompson
  Telegram & Gazette Staff

  
  Posted Mar. 4, 2016 at 9:10 PM
  Updated Mar 4, 2016 at 11:23 PM
  
  

  Ninety-year-old Anna M. McCormack, who lived alone in Leominster, is the state's 14th residential fire victim since the first of the year. All the victims have been adults - mostly seniors - and 10, including Mrs. McCormack, were in homes without working smoke alarms.

  Her body was found March 1 on the first floor of her home at 1051 Main St., just outside her bedroom. The fire started in the living room at an electrical cord that was covered by an excessive amount of clutter. Investigators found only one smoke alarm, at the top of the stairs on the second floor, and it was not working.

  The "vintage" device manufactured in 1975 did contain a battery, but there was no indication that the device worked. Fire officials say smoke alarms more than 10-years old are no longer reliable.

  “If she had had a working smoke detector or a carbon monoxide detector, either one of them would have gone off early enough that she might have been able to make her way out of the home,” said John A. Gendron, Leominster’s deputy fire chief of fire prevention. Experts say fire doubles every 30 seconds, giving someone only about three minutes to safely get out of a burning structure.

  And Sharon E. Oikelmus is convinced that had there been working smoke alarms in her sisters’ home in Fitchburg they would be alive today.

  After fire killed Irene and Janice Oikelmus at their home at 176-178 Walton St., Fitchburg, on Feb. 10, investigators found two smoke alarms - one with the battery disconnected and the other on a shelf with the battery placed on top of it. Carbon monoxide alarms in the home were also without batteries. The sisters’ brother, Steven Oikelmus, 60, who lived in the other side of the duplex, is still hospitalized.

  “Yes,” Sharon Oikelmus said when asked if she believes working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms would have made a difference. “Probably by the time the smoke got to that part of the house it was too late for my sisters upstairs. Carbon monoxide would have lulled them to sleep.”

  State Rep. Kate Hogan, D-Stow, said this is why she worked with former state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan to create the Senior S.A.F.E. program in 2014.

  The previous year, the state had 44 civilian fire deaths – 15 in the first two months of the year. Half of the victims died at night while sleeping in homes that did not have working smoke alarms. Several of the seniors who died lived in Ms. Hogan’s district which comprises Bolton, Hudson, Maynard and Stow. Older adults are twice as likely to die in a fire than any other age group.

  "It was startling when I was reading that there were fire deaths involving seniors in my towns from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide. It's what inspired me and made me go and seek a remedy and mechanism to find out how we can get fire alarms into homes," said Ms. Hogan, who chairs the Joint Committee on Public Health.

  These recent senior fire deaths "should definitely be a reminder to everyone that although the Senior S.A.F.E. program is 2 1/2 years old, it's absolutely critical that we get these alarms into seniors homes so they are safe. With the senior population growing, these needs are going to be growing as well."

  The Senior S.A.F.E. program provides annual grants to municipal fire departments to help educate seniors on fire and fall prevention, general home safety and how to escape a fire should there ever be one. In addition to the education component, the program provides seniors with important safety devices such as smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, house numbers where needed, night lights, high-end fire limiting devices on stoves, and in-hood stove fire extinguishers.

  Fire departments work in collaboration with agencies such as councils on aging, senior centers, visiting nurse associations and meals of wheel, to find out which seniors may need the services.

  The Senior S.A.F.E. program builds on the school-based Student Awareness of Fire Education program that has reduced child fire deaths by 70 percent over the past 20 years. Newly-appointed state Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey said similar results are expected with the program for seniors. Since it's implementation, he said, fire departments have made thousands of home visits to seniors' homes to install new smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.

  "In the short-term we have had a direct impact on the safety of thousands of older adults," said Mr. Ostroskey. "The number of senior fire deaths has fluctuated showing some improvement and yet more work to do."

  Fitchburg Fire Department has applied for and received Senior S.A.F.E. grants each year. Fitchburg and other fire departments have also partnered with the American Red Cross which provides free smoke alarms in communities with high numbers of fires. The goal of the nationwide campaign is to reduce the number of house fire deaths and injuries by 25 percent by 2020.

  Lt. Phil Jordan, Fitchburg's director of fire prevention and arson, said one of the main things his division does is conduct events at the Senior Center and in community rooms in high rises to teach seniors life safety skills. Seniors are advised as part of their fire escape plan to have a "buddy" system where they check in on someone across the hall or someone who may need a little more time or help to get out. That way, the Fire Department, quickly knows if there is anyone still in a burning building.

  "So much of this is preventable ... Get out. Stay out. Stay safe. Homes can be replaced," he said. "Most of the time, it's not the fire. In most cases it's the smoke. Smoke just kills," he said.

  Lt. Annmarie Pickett, director of the Worcester Fire Department's Education and Community Risk Protection program, said the Senior S.A.F.E. program is a great addition to the home safety programs she runs.

  Last year, her division reached out to 1,700 seniors through workshop presentations. They also made 110 home visits and installed 240 smoke alarms, 180 carbon monoxide alarms, 35 night lights, 22 power strips, ten other fire safety devices and replaced the street numbers on a home. She also teaches seniors the proper maintenance and upkeep of smoke alarms to make sure they are in working condition. Having a working smoke alarm and a customized home-escape plan doubles a person's chance of surviving a fire, she said.

  "When you go to sleep, your nose goes to sleep. You need a working smoke alarm close to your bedroom or in your bedroom," she advised.

  The city of Worcester had gone without any fatal house fires from 2011 until last year when five people - ages 64 to 96 - died. Ms. Pickett said she sees fires as a "window of opportunity." After the dust settles, she knocks on doors of homes around the fire site to offer fire prevention and safety services.

  "I say, 'Your home is your castle. I thank you for letting me in so we can work together,' she said. "If you empower people and educate people, they will maintain it."

  Lt. Pickett, who was named the 2015 Fire and Life Safety Educator of the Year by the National Fire Protection Association, also has a program where she teaches seniors about fire prevention and how to escape a fire who in turn teaches groups of young school children. The children go home and are able to teach their parents what they learned.

  Ms. Pickett said the programs, including Senior S.A.F.E. are definitely making a difference.

  "Yes, it's saving lives. No doubt about it," she said. "When I would visit one house at a time, people thought I was crazy. But, that's one more house protected when I leave it."