By Melvin Twigg Mason
Said to be one of the deadliest house fires in U.S. history, the Jan. 5 tragedy at a row house in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia left 12 dead, including 8 children. At the time of this writing, a cause for the fire was not yet determined. There were only two exits on the first floor of the 3-story building, one in front and the other in the back, with no fire escapes attached. Karen Guss, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections told the Philadelphia Inquirer “City code doesn’t require fire escapes for buildings of that size.” Guss said that one exit is sufficient under city code for a residential, two-family house with three floors.
A total of 17 people, including eight children, were killed in a fire at a Bronx apartment building on Sunday, Jan. 9 of this year. CNN News reported that “a malfunctioning electric space heater in a bedroom” is to blame for this fire, which consumed the second and third floors of the 19-story building.
These tragedies are among the deadliest fires recorded in our country in the last 40 years according 
to the National Fire Protection Association, which prompted this inquiry into what constitutes a mass casualty fire event. NFPA is a global nonprofit organization established in 1896. They are “devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards” according to their website. It also states that any fire occurrence with fatalities of 10 people or more represents a mass casualty fire. The only mass casualty fire in Ohio in the last 40 years occurred in Columbus in 2004 (see chart).
According to the NFPA, the top causes of residential fires in the United States are:
- cooking accidents (the leading cause)
- heating failures (the second leading cause, resulting in annual losses of 500 civilian deaths, 1,350 injuries, and $1.1 billion in direct property damage from 2014-2018)
- electrical mishaps
- cigarettes, matches, & smoked materials (said to have started an estimated 17,200 home structure fires reported to U.S. fire departments in 2014 alone!) and
- candle usage (these fires caused an annual average of $291 million in direct property damage from 2015-2019)
These numbers do not include the untold number of injuries and fatalities that occur at non-residential locations, such as businesses, industrial sites, or even the fiery World Trade Center attack in 2001, which officially lists 2,966 lives lost.
In talking with Brady Howard, a retired firefighter (and one-time acting Lieutenant) from the East Cleveland Fire Dept, barbecue grills being too close to the house is another major firestarter. “There should be at least 5 feet of separation between the grill and the house,” Howard indicates. He also added multiple casualties in a single incident are not a common occurrence. Injuries, yes; deaths, no. Howard says on average one, maybe two, fatalities happen in a single event; and that’s only on rare occasions.
The 27-year fire veteran states, “We emphasize ‘Get out’ [of the building]! Practice getting out of the house.
Have a plan.”
- Howard instructs residents not to fling open doors. Touch the knob, and if it’s hot, find another way out. “And once you go out, do not go back in that building!
- “Have a special meeting place outside (where all family members) can gather. That way you know everyone is safe.”
- If everyone is not at the meeting spot, alert firefighters to who’s missing and what location they may be in.
- Also, have fire alert and smoke detection systems in place; make a regular check of them. Change batteries every six months.
“Practice, practice, practice,” Howard explains. “No one plans to fail, but we fail to plan (ahead).”