PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia fire officials completed their preliminary investigation into the Fairmount duplex fire that killed a family of 12, including nine children. They found there were no working smoke alarms or fire escapes.
Most of the victims are presumed to have been asleep when they died. City officials said the duplex went up in flames in 90 seconds — and there were no working smoke detectors. They were in drawers or on the floor, without batteries.
Smoke billowed up through the home's only exit, the stairway. Victims would have had to have jumped from third floor windows, according to Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel.
"Sometimes people use the windows to escape. In fact in this fire, one individual did self-evacuate by going out the window," he said.
"All these buildings should be retrofitted with fire escapes as soon as possible," said Francisco Meneses, with the National Fire Association. "The worst in fire escapes, second to New York City, is Philadelphia."
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Meneses said older row homes should have another option.
"As a single family home, I need a front door and a back door, but as a three-unit building, I need to have a fire escape with stairs, no ladders, all the way to the ground," he explained.
Meneses also recommended buying metal chain-linked ladders, which can be attached under a window.
Philadelphia officials said having working smoke detectors should give you enough time to get out of the building safely.
The final report on the Fairmount fire will come out in a few months — and city official noted the aging infrastructure and said they would review everything, including current building codes, once complete.