PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Several fatal fires in the city this year have rocked the Fairmount and Kensington neighborhoods. They have also taken a toll on the School District of Philadelphia community, with some of their students as victims.
As summer approaches, both hope to call attention to fire safety and prevention as they eye ways to increase this education during the next school year.
District spokesperson Monica Lewis says it's been tough.
"Obviously the families or the neighbors, their lives are forever changed," said Lewis. "But I think that people might not realize that there are teachers, there's an empty desk in the classroom or there are students who have lost the young man or woman they sat next to in the cafeteria for lunch."
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Lewis said during the pandemic, the district launched a bus tour of neighborhoods to ensure students and parents had information and access to vaccinations.
Now, those tours can help further education in other essential areas. Gustav Baumann, fire prevention chief for the Philadelphia Fire Department, said he has teams assigned to visit schools and communities throughout the year as well.
"I always say, 'People don't know what they don't know.' And that sounds so silly, but if you have never been told what is right or wrong, how do you know? When it comes to fire, there is no learning curve on that," Baumann said. "Within our fire department, we have a youth and school team, but we have a whole city to deal with and that becomes very difficult."
Baumann said he is working with Lewis to find more ways to weave fire safety and prevention into school events. Lewis said the bus tour of 33 neighborhoods that was launched last year can certainly include fire prevention and safety information.
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Baumann also acknowledged that today's economy has forced many more families to share the same space, which is why he urges everyone to understand the fire safety steps necessary to help not only their families, but the families next door as well.
"We have multiple generations living in a house or we have family members living on the same block, which has always been a Philadelphia thing because we are a city of neighborhoods," said Baumann. "And these neighborhoods are tightly connected. Neighbors speak. The houses are primarily row homes, so we all know each other."
Older houses, Baumann said, often cannot handle the electrical load of all those people. Any resident who needs working smoke alarms is urged to call 311 to register.
Learn more about fire safety and prevention on KYW Newsradio In Depth.
