PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The U.S. Fire Administrator was in Philadelphia Wednesday honoring those who lost their lives in fires over the past year, including the 12 people who perished in the Fairmount Duplex Fire.
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Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell pointed out that President Biden enacted legislation mandating the hardwiring of smoke alarms in public housing. She says the law was inspired by the fatal Fairmount fire tragedy.
“If we can’t get people to act on their own, often we have to pass laws to cause them to act and that is part of the fight,” she said. “It is making sure that we are holding those who are responsible, accountable, and that means people who are responsible for enforcing building codes, implementing them, whether it’s a building owner or whether it’s an enforcement agency.”
Moore-Merrell says many deaths and injuries caused by fires might be prevented if proper safety measures and protocols are in place. That can be done by keeping batteries in smoke alarms, closing bedroom doors at night and if there is a fire inside your home, close any doors in the room that is on fire to possibly prevent the spread of the fire.
She added that President Biden recently enacted legislation mandating hard-wired smoke alarms in public housing. The law was inspired by the Fairmount Fire.
Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel, who also spoke, says fire safety is everyone’s fight.
“We need everybody’s help,” he said.
In 2022, 41 people in Philadelphia alone were killed in fires and more than 200 were injured.