I mean, what kind of cretin above the age of 6 has family move into a house that is not certified for habitation, knowing full well that it isn’t wired in, and starts a nice, toasty fire in the fireplace??? Without at least a $5 smoke detector? (Even with a wired smoke detector, one should have at least one or two in the house, in case of power outages.)
I brought at least two store bought smoke detectors from my last house when I moved to my current one. Why? Because I had a loved one with me that I didn’t want to burn up!
And, I am as lazy a person as you can find, so, laziness is not the answer for this tragedy.
From the posts, I’m discerning that the lost grandfather was in the safety business?? Double shame on him.
Stupidity, stupidity, stupidity.
I’m thinking she is going to be forever blaming herself for spending 1.725 million on a home, but not ponying up $100 for a few battery operated smoke detectors to use temporarily until the others were hard-wired in. People are like that, in thinking that it’s always someone else who will be front page news. I’m sure a lot of people pointing the finger of blame on her or her boyfriend have something in their life that could make them the next front page tragedy, but it’s always someone else who was careless or stupid until it’s your turn.
Yeah, and hindsight is 20/20. Of course, AFTER you read a story like this, you think about how important a fire alarm is. It’s not something that most of us give much thought on a typical day though. I’m quite certain that there are people reading this thread who don’t have a working fire alarm in their home.
It is human nature to want to believe that this kind of tragedy happened because the people at fault were bad people in some way (so we can tell ourselves that, of course, WE would never be that dumb or that lazy, so therefore we’re safe from such a thing happening).
However, none of us are 100% vigilant and safety conscious at all times.
Maybe this poor woman did have some passing thought about wanting to get a fire alarm but then forgot to follow through on it because AT THAT PARTICULAR TIME it didn’t seem like the highest priority. That kind of thing can happen to anyone.
We had a fire burning in our home about 200 days a year for more than forty-five years. Never had a smoke alarm and never regretted that choice.
That said, the houses were built when fireplaces were the primary heat source. They were not decorative. We used real wood, not store bought “yule logs”, and knew what types of wood should not be burnt. We didn’t empty the fireplace at the end of the night so that it would look tidy. In fact, though the fire was not roaring, what remained when we went to bed was more than embers. The chimney was cleaned regularly and there was an ample hearth surrounding the fire screens.
Fireplaces are like guns. If used knowledgeably, they are very safe. Most have little knowledge of how to control a fire, drive a car, or hundreds of other things. The circumstances of this fire lead me to believe that the person’s were casual users seeking a little atmosphere. They should have been watching the WPIX Yule Log on TV. A contractor should know better than to place burning embers near flammable material inside a residence. She should have been watching his back. They both slipped up. I see this as one of those stupid mistakes that all of us make every day that sometimes turn fatal.
Exactly. They just bought a beautiful multi-million dollar house, and probably thought it’d be fun to have a night-before-Christmas sleepover, even though it wasn’t ready for the real move-in yet. If for some reason I acquired a gorgeous new mansion just before Christmas, I could see myself doing the same thing and not even thinking to think of the smoke detectors.
It’s like the whole “leaving the baby in the car” thing. We all swear up and down that we would never be capable of a lapse like that. But when it comes down to it, given the right circumstances it could happen to anyone.
I haven’t had a fireplace in years, and when we did have one it was used only rarely, so I simply do not understand this whole thing about removing the dying embers. Aren’t they safer left in the fireplace? Why would you clean out the fireplace at 3 am? Was he drunk? The few times we had a fire in the fireplace, it got cleaned up days later…I would never have thought that cleaning it out immediately after having a fire was the thing to do. What piece of information am I missing here?
I don’t get cleaning out the embers so quickly, either. And if I did have a reason, they’d go in a metal bucket and outside in the backyard. Why the hurry?
I wondered that about the embers, too. For sure they would have been safer in the fireplace, I would think.
The only thing I can think of is that she/they wanted that picture perfect Christmas morning. They were up until 3 wrapping presents, maybe they emptied the embers and perhaps stacked fresh wood in the fireplace so that in the morning it would be quick and easy to light. She is an ad exec, so I’m thinking she is a visual person; that roaring fire in the background while the kids opened their gifts would have been the perfect setting and they wouldn’t have to take the time to empty ashes in the morning?
That’s the only thing I can come up with. This story is haunting to me.
Yes, but embers in a paper bag? I was taught, long ago, to always use a metal container for moving ashes, even when you think they’re cold just to be on the safe side. Which is what this gets down to, unsafe fire practices.
Given it was 3 am, I have to wonder how much fatigue might have been a factor here. Exhausted people can do dumb stuff, as bad as being drunk or drugged.
No, I agree, it was dumb. For whatever reason they did that dumb thing and have paid a terrible price for it. I was thinking about this and I realized that most of the mistakes I make are dumb, too. Maybe that’s why this story is bothering me so much. I can imagine doing something stupid, but I can’t imagine having to deal with this magnitude of consequence.
The Associated Press reported that the embers were removed from the fireplace because the children were worried about Santa coming down the chimney. It’s an explanation, although one that adds to the tragedy of the story.
This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of four, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford’s daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, “Saved alone . . .”. Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.
I was thinking that it might help her to meet with William Petit, another Connecticut resident who lost his whole family in a tragic event, although one caused by two criminals.