The Griffin Building became the first fire damage Griffin Properties has suffered. The fire occurred because the tenant left the stove on in his second floor condominium and went away for the weekend. It was a wake up call for me. If I am going to meet my goal of 500 rental homes I need to invest in educating tenants about fire safety. What good is it to have 500 rental homes and all of them go up in smoke because of careless tenants? This latest tragedy has made me more conscious of the risk of fire. Just what do we need to do if a fire occurs? 

The first thing you need to do if a fire occurs is to inform those around that a fire is occurring. Yell Fire as loud and often as possible! Dial 911 immediately. Try to put the fire out. Initial fire control is possible after the first three minutes. After three minutes consider running like hell! Once the fire reaches the ceiling, it’s out of control. Call to each person in the house and encourage them to run like hell. Don’t worry about saving personal belongings. Try to close the windows and door where the fire is burning so that it won’t spread. 

Residential fires cause more deaths, injury, & property loss than any other kind of fire. It is the smoke that kills the most people. Smoke spreads faster than a raging fire and in its contents is carbon monoxide. Death occurs when a fire burns out of control and blocks escape exits with heat and smoke. Over 80% of the fire related deaths and 72% of the fire related injuries in the United States occur in residential fires. America has the worst fire record in the industrialized world! What can we do to improve our record? We can start teaching fire safety again in our schools and churches. Fire education is the key! Working smoke detectors are a must! 

 On average in America someone died in a fire every 162 minutes in 2006, and someone was injured every 32 minutes. Four out of five fire deaths in America in 2007 occurred in the home. In 2006, fire departments had 412,500 emergency home fire calls in America, which claimed the lives of 2,580 people excluding firefighters and injured another 12,925, excluding firefighters. Smoking is the leading cause of fire-related deaths. Cooking is the leading cause of residential fires. In 2005, residential fires are credited with costing property owners $7 billion dollars in property damage. Half of home fire deaths occur in homes without smoke detectors. Most residential fires occur in winter months. Alcohol use contributes to an estimated 40% of residential fire deaths. 

My congratulations and gratitude is extended to the brave men and women of the Montgomery, Alabama Fire Department. They are a world class group of people. 

In the words of my dad, “You must honor the chair whether it is sitting, walking or lying down.”