Daily Sitka Sentinel

Fire Chief Lists Common Household Risks

By SHANNON HAUGLAND

Sentinel Staff Writer

Sitka Fire Chief Dave Miller has responded to many emergencies – big and small – in his decades of fighting fires and providing emergency medical assistance.

Chief Dave Miller (Sentinel Photo)

But a number of common household items and habits still “scare” him for their potential for causing injury, property destruction or death, he told the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.

Making the list were “small, cheap electric heaters” and the lack of carbon monoxide detectors or working smoke alarms in many homes. Furnace rooms with boxes piled around the heater, and cigarette smoking also are on the list.

“Smoking inside and outside the house – that scares me a lot,” the chief said. He recalled a house fire in Sitka that started on an outside porch in a coffee can full of cigarette butts.

In theory, he said, rain water in the can would put out a cigarette. But, he added: “The bottoms of the cans are always rusted out, and the water drains out fast.”

In his half-hour talk to the Chamber he talked about the services provided by the 100 volunteers and the employees in the 8.5 paid positions in the fire department.

Since 2004 the department has responded to an average of 1,178 calls per year, with medical emergencies the most common type of call. In 2016 the emergency medical calls were 91 percent of the 1,438 total calls received. The department also provides such services as car unlocks, smoke checks, public education, containing oil spills, making sprinkler checks, and replacing batteries in beeping smoke alarms, Miller said. 

He said a total of 3,280 people died in fires in the United States in 2015, and in Alaska an average of 20 people die in fires each year.

“I would like to say we shouldn’t have any, but some are going to happen,” Miller said. “A lot happen because they don’t have smoke alarms that work, they take the battery out of smoke alarms.”

Another challenge of fighting fires today is how fast a fire spreads, he said.

“A fire can grow very fast nowadays,” Miller said. “It used to be, when I was young, a fire didn’t grow very fast.” The change occurred with the use of more combustible building materials. “Now (a fire) grows three or four times in size per minute – it was only two times (per minute) three or four years ago. ... you have to hustle to get out.”

Smoke detectors with a parent’s recorded voice instead of a beeping sound will help children know what to do when there’s a fire, the chief said.

“Kids won’t wake up to that (beeping) but they will to their mom telling them to get up and get out of bed,” he said.

Miller told the Chamber how businesses can help make the fire department run more smoothly.

He advised business owners to get a Knox-Box, which is a lockbox containing a door key that is mounted near a store’s outside entrance. The drivers of fire department vehicles and the chief have access to the Knox-Box.  He added the boxes, which are available from the fire department for about $250, have never been broken into.

“If we respond to your business, we have access quick,” he said. “I don’t mind calling you in the middle of the night ...” he said. But having the key means emergency workers investigating smoke, fire or running water when the business is closed don’t have to break the door or wait for the owner to arrive.

Miller said many services are performed by volunteers, including dozens of firefighters, EMS crews, search and rescue, dive rescue squads and the auxiliary. Fire department volunteers train a few times a month. He urged business owners to support their employees who are serving their community as volunteers.

“We’re always looking for volunteers,” he added.

Miller also asked everyone to be prepared to welcome the 250 or so visitors who will be in Sitka for the Alaska State Fire Conference Sept. 25-30.

“It’s a great time – people coming from the littlest villages,” he said.

The focus this year will be on training for emergencies common in small towns and villages.