Here in Tampa Bay, we read the awful story recently of how burglar bars on windows trapped three people in a house fire. Two of them died.
Someone who installs security bars said he tried to talk the homeowner into retrofitting his bars with emergency releases, which are required by local building codes, but the owner turned him down. Retrofitting would’ve cost $200 per window.
Poynter’s St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reports:
State fire codes and local building codes require that every sleeping room be equipped with an outside escape that can be opened from the inside without the help of a key or tool.
But enforcing that rule is tough, said Harold Scott, a city of Tampa code enforcement officer, especially if a property is in good condition and regulators have no other reason to inspect.
Here is what one emergency release system looks like.
A locksmith site gives some insight on how burglar bars affect fire safety.
Over the years I have seen many tragic stories about people being trapped by burglar bars in burning houses. Here is a story from Texas, another from Oklahoma, and an older story from Washington, D.C.
A company that manufactures one type of quick-release system for burglar bars provides a list of additional incidents. Here are some of them:
- August 2000, Jacksonville, Fla.: A Jacksonville mother and her 9-year-old son died and four other people were hospitalized after being trapped behind window and door security bars in a burning house.
- December 1999, Detroit, Mich.: Six die in Detroit house fire. Three children, their mother, grandmother and great grandmother were overcome by smoke and died. Security bars on the doors and windows obstructed the firemen from entering the home.
- November 1999, Boynton Beach, Fla.: Father of three died in house fire, body was discovered on the living room floor, bedroom windows barricaded by heavy metal bars may have prevented his escape.
- January 1999, Trenton, N.J.: Metal anti-crime window bars hampered rescue efforts in an apartment fire that killed one boy and critically injured a pair of six-year old twins.
- September 1998, San Antonio: Two young brothers, 3 years old and 23 months, died in a house fire when firefighters and neighbors were unable to reach them through metal window bars. Neighbors did rip open the back door with a sledgehammer to rescue the boys’ 5-month-old sister and teenage aunt.
I imagine just about any experienced firefighter could tell you how difficult it is to rescue someone from a home protected with burglar bars. You might consider telling the story through the eyes of the firefighter who is risking his or her life.
When a home is sold or refinanced, the safety release may be required, but short of that, is there much of a chance that a city inspector would even know the bars don’t have emergency releases?
