A three year old, a lighter and disabled smoke alarms are a recipe for disaster, but luckily that disaster was averted by a local family this weekend.
Firefighters were called to the scene of a mattress fire, Saturday morning, shortly before 8 a.m. When they arrived, they found the occupants of 65 Augusta Street in Morrisburg, outside wrapped in blankets. The fire, located in the second floor bedroom, was extinguished and firefighters removed the burnt mattress and debris.
“I spoke with the tenants of the home and the grandmother said that she smelled smoke and discovered the second floor bedroom on fire,” said Chris McDonough, fire chief of South Dundas Fire and Emergency Services. “She woke her son and got her three year old grandson out of the bedroom.”
“As it turns out, the three year old boy had set fire to the bedroom with a lighter that was in his father’s pants next to the bed,” said McDonough. “This could very easily have been a fatality.”
According to McDonough, the smoke alarm on the second floor had been removed and the battery had been removed from the smoke alarm on the main floor of the home.
A $235 charge will be laid for not having working smoke alarms in the home.
“I would like to remind everyone that you must have a working smoke alarm on every storey of your home and that they should practice their home escape plans,” said McDonough.
Be the first to comment