Newly installed smoke alarms save 3 from Houston house fire

HOUSTON - Free smoke alarms installed just hours earlier are credited with likely saving the lives of three people on Thanksgiving Day.

Eight months pregnant, Katheryn Jones, 17, and boyfriend Larry Baker, 19, weren’t feeling well and were resting in the bedroom of their trailer at 12028 W. Round Table Dr. on Thursday when they smelled smoke and heard their new smoke alarms sound.

“It definitely saved our lives,” Jones said. “There aren’t enough thank yous in the world.”

Baker went to the living room to check things out but couldn’t see anything wrong, so he said he pushed the alarm’s hush button and went back to bed.

Then a few moments later the alarm sounded again. This time Baker saw flames licking the walls and ceiling of the trailer. The two fled the trailer and tried to call 911, but Jones said she couldn’t get the call to connect.

Next, she tried calling her brother, Shawn Skiles, who works for the Houston Fire Department. But he told her the department isn’t allowed to respond to a fire until it is paged to respond by dispatchers.

So the resourceful teen tried a new tack; she called her mother and asked her to call 911 and report the fire.

“It was the one thing that helped us,” Jones said. “I’m so happy they installed those fire alarms. If it wasn’t for them, we probably wouldn’t have noticed it in time.”

Outside, Baker fought the blaze by scooping shovels of snow on to the flames, he said. The trailer his family owns has no running water and that was his only option, Baker said.

By the time the official call to respond came over Houston Fire Department radios, Chief Tom Hood and firefighter Skiles already were in a fire truck in route to the scene.

Houston firefighter Christian Hartley said Baker had the fire mostly under control when they arrived and the fire department just used two water fire extinguishers to put out the rest of it.

“That’s what the alarms are there for: to notify you that a fire is starting,” Hartley said.

Jones and Baker said they’d smelled smoke in the trailer the day before when her brother, firefighter Skiles, installed the alarms. But Jones said they moved some things away from the wood stove and the smell decreased. They thought the problem was solved, she said.

Chief Hood said heat from the chimney had apparently slowly been charring the trailer’s wall and they didn’t realize it until the smoke alarm sounded the second time.

Because the trailer only had one way in and out, Hartley said the early warning the smoke alarms provided helped the couple get out safely.

The wood stove was the trailer’s only source of heat, and since the stove had already caught the residence on fire once, Hartley said firefighters advised the couple against relighting the stove and trying to stay in the trailer while repairs are made.

Jones said the Houston Fire Department did much more than that. They also invited the two back to the firehouse to join the Thanksgiving feast they were sharing when their call for help came.

Chief Hood said the fire department referred the couple to the Red Cross for assistance.

Baker said they were all sharing dinner at the firehouse when the Red Cross arrived with a voucher to help with food, clothing and other necessities. Red Cross also put the two up at the Grand View Inn for three nights.

And Jones said Houston firefighters also offered to help them remove the wood stove and reinstall it for safe operation.

“They are doing quite a bit to help us out,” she said. “It’s pretty amazing what they are doing to help us.”

Baker said the fire also left a hole in the wall that will need to be fixed before his young family can move back home. For him, he said finding a job and getting the trailer repaired are pressing concerns; especially with the birth of their child just weeks away.

Baker graduated from high school in May and Jones is a senior enrolled through Cyber Lynx Correspondence. She said she plans to continue her education and study pre-law in college. Baker said a career and college are secondary concerns for him right now.

“I’m more concerned about getting a job than anything,” he said.

Damage to the couple’s trailer and its contents were minimal, due in part to the fire department’s quick response, Hood said. That 15 firefighters were sharing a meal at the station when the call came in certainly sped up their response time, he said.

About three minutes after the call came in, Houston firefighters were on scene watering the blaze, Hood said.

“It’s nice when it goes this way,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse.”

Chief Hood said local fire departments including Houston, West Lakes, Central Mat-Su, Willow and Palmer got a grant to install smoke alarms in their areas. He said his department still has a lot of free smoke alarms available.

“Anybody can contact their local fire department and get a smoke alarm,” he said. “We’ll even come out and install them for you so they are in the right place.”

Hartley said the smoke alarms have 10-year batteries so people don’t have to remember to stock and replace the 9-volt batteries that power most alarms.

“Prevention is a lot better than reaction,” Hartley said. “This could have been a significantly different story.”

He said Baker and Jones did the right thing when they saw the fire - they got out and called 911.

Hartley also suggested people sit in a car at the end of the driveway with their flashers on as a way to help the fire department find the house easier.

Baker and Jones said they are forever grateful for the help and kindness shown them this Thanksgiving.

“I’d really like to thank the Red Cross and the Houston Fire Department for helping us out,” Baker said. “They were there instantly and they didn’t leave until they knew it was all out.”

Contact Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.