AUTHORITIES PROMOTE SMOKE DETECTORS

If you and members of your family are asleep when a fire breaks out in your home, do you think the smoke will awaken you? If you say "yes," you're wrong ... perhaps dead wrong.

"When there's a fire, the smoke will actually put sleeping people into a deeper sleep, not awaken them. It's not the flames that kill people, its the smoke and hot, toxic gases," says interim Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Max Jauch.

"That's why smoke detectors are so very important. They give you an early audible warning of a fire and can provide enough time for you and your family to escape safely."

Beverly Stott of Cape Girardeau knows that from experience.

At about midnight on Dec. 3, 1991, Stott and her family were in bed for the night at their home at 22 Edgewood. She was still awake, but her two older sons, Justin, 15, and Aaron, 13, were asleep in separate bedrooms in the finished basement. On the first floor, Stott's husband, Gerald, and children, Ryan, 11, and Wendy, 9, were also asleep.

At about 12:10 a.m., Justin was awakened by the sound of the smoke detector going off in the laundry room in the basement. At the same time, he could smell smoke and hear a loud buzzing sound that was later determined to be the sound of electrical wiring shorting out near the fuse box, where the fire started.

Beverly Stott said the sound of the smoke detector and the buzzing noise of the electrical wiring woke up Justin, who alerted his parents and the rest of the family.

Despite extensive fire damage to the basement and a part of the upstairs area, the Stott family escaped from their burning house without injury. But Beverly Stott says if it had not been for the smoke detector in the basement, a tragedy might have resulted.

"Another few minutes and I'm sure at least two members of our family would have died in that fire," she said. "We were very fortunate that no one was hurt."

As a result of the December fire, Stott said smoke detectors have been placed in all of the bedrooms - upstairs and downstairs. And she makes it her responsibility to check and test each detector on a regular basis.

Jauch said the greatest number of fatal home fires occur between midnight and 4 a.m.

"Even though this time frame is when fires are least likely to occur, those that do occur are most deadly because they can go undetected unless there are operating smoke detectors in the home," he said. "Having adequate smoke detector protection in your home is absolutely key to fire survival. Smoke detectors should be located on every level of the home, including basements. There should be detectors in the hallway outside bedrooms and detectors in each bedroom, if the doors are closed at night."

Jauch said the smoke detectors should be tested at least once a week, to make sure the batteries are still good. The batteries should be changed twice a year, in April and October.

When the smoke detector goes off in the middle of the night, Jauch says it's important to know what to do next. He says each family should develop and rehearse a fire escape plan - one with two ways out from every room, especially bedrooms. Have an outside meeting place arranged in advance where the family members can meet to make sure everyone has escaped safely.

Fire Prevention Week, which runs today through Saturday, is also a good time for homeowners to survey their home for fire hazards, says Jauch. Heating equipment is the leading cause of home fires in the United States. Portable heaters and other space heaters, including chimney flues, account for more than three-fourths of all these fires and associated deaths. Each year, more than 5,000 people die in fires across the nation. Many lives could have been saved with simple home fire safety precautions.

"Now is the time to check the fan belt on your furnace and change the furnace filter," says Jauch. "It's also time to have a certified chimney sweep check the fireplace flue to make sure its ready for winter use."

Jauch says citizens can take advantage of the Fall Cleanup Week campaigns in Cape Girardeau and Jackson this week to dispose of boxes, clothing, or other debris that may be stacked next to gas water heaters or gas furnaces.

"Of course, everyone should remember that no kind of flammable fuel, such as gasoline or kerosene, should be stored in the basement with gas furnaces or water heaters," he added.

During the month of October, Cape Girardeau firefighters are conducting special fire prevention and fire safety programs. Firefighters are visiting first and second grades in the public and parochial schools to present a program on fire safety and prevention.

During Fire Prevention Week, firefighters will bring the 102-foot aerial platform ladder fire truck to 27 city schools and other locations where they will conduct fire drills and demonstrate the ladder truck.

On Friday, the winners of the fifth and sixth grade Fire Prevention Poster Contest will receive their awards at Fire Station Number One.

Jauch says additional information and publications on fire safety and fire prevention are available without charge at Fire Station Number One at Sprigg and Independence.

"Fire safety and fire prevention is everyone's job, young and old," says Jauch. "If all of us will make fire safety and fire prevention a year-round, seven-day-a-week effort, maybe we won't have to make a fire call to your home in the middle of the night."