Discussion for article #232217
Possibly CO poisoning first, and whatever caused that also started a fire. If they were in there, you hope that was the case so they were dead before the burned. If it was just a very fast fire and they got caught in it, that has to just be a horrible way to go. But I would think someone might have tried to call 911 if they were trapped.
Please move this to your new TPM section, The ***R***ubberneck
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And if I were blowing four million bucks on a new house, I’d spend at least some of it ensuring the place exceeded minimum code for firewalls, inflammability of materials and electrical. Not criticizing the owner. Just suggesting that the fire marshal will likely be giving the remains of the house a really thorough going over for signs of arson or code violations.
Here in California, the building code requires a smoke and carbon dioxide detector in every bedroom as well as certain other common areas. They must be verified as having been installed and working whenever there is a sale. Also, if you do any work, the inspector checks that as well before they sign off on the building permit. Ours are hard-wired into the electrical system with battery back-ups, but I am not sure if that is required by code (I think so).
With these in place, even if you cannot stop the fire, it seems likely that you should be able to get out.
I wonder what MD’s rules are?
Maryland requires CO detectors “near sleeping areas” or “near” CO producing equipment. If they skimped on safety in a four million dollar house and only put them near the furnace and the gas fireplaces and the place was big enough and there were no pets in the house with more acute hearing than humans with access to the bedrooms, it’s just conceivable that the owners of gigantic home might sleep through the alarm. But I expect the fire marshal is going to be skeptical of that theory.
Thanks, Steve. First, that is a stupid rule - near CO producing equipment. The rule should be updated - it should be “and.” Second, I agree with you that, though it is possible that they could have had them only near the CO sources, I doubt that anyone will readily accept that in a house of this size/cost.
Of course, there is also the human factor. There was a story on NPR this morning about a fire in an apartment building here that resulted in a number of serious injuries. Smoke detectors were installed, but none of them had batteries installed. How anyone could stand the incessant beeping (that always seems to happen at 2 a.m.) when the batteries in those things start getting low is beyond me. But, I suppose after a few days they die fully and no one thinks about them again.