Fire fatality rates increase in Tennessee in 2018

JACKSON, Tenn.–According to the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, there have been more than 90 fire-related deaths state-wide in 2018, as compared to 85  deaths in 2017. Local fire officials want to bring awareness to local counties to prevent the numbers of deaths from rising.

Even though fire-related death have increased state-wide this year, fire officials say locally the numbers are actually down.
Madison County Fire Marshal, Don Friddle says there is one of the ways to prevent becoming a statistic.

“One of the most important things that people can do is to install and have a working smoke alarm in their home. working smoke alarms is going to decrease their chances dying in a house fire by over 50 percent,” said Friddle.

Fire officials say a fire can intensify in as little as three minutes. They want to raise awareness what you can do to escape a fire in your home.

“Another thing they need to be considering is an escape plan from their house if it does catch on fire. We use to have 17 minutes to escape a home fire and that time frame has narrowed to 3 to 4 minutes,” said Friddle.

He also says when escaping a house fire, keep interior doors of your home closed.

“A closed door has been proven to increase and improve survivability for an upwards of 10 to 15 minutes,” Friddle added.

Studies have been shown that a person that is inside a room can a fire raging on the outside of the room and sometimes even the temperatures in that room won’t even reach above 90 degrees.

Friddle says its important to talk to family members about what to do should a fire happen in their home.

“Work with the small kids. Make sure they know how to react in the event that a fire does happen and if the smoke alarms does go off open up bedroom windows and make sure the windows can raise,” said Friddle.

Friddle also said if you need a smoke alarm to give the Madison County Fire Department a call and they will come and install a smoke alarm in your home at no cost.

To learn more on fire safety, click on Seen on 7.