Fires kill 900 in winter's deep freeze

DENVER — Nearly 900 Americans have been killed in house fires during this winter's deep freeze, federal officials and the Red Cross say in urging Americans to safeguard against the danger as cold weather continues.

At least 899 people have been killed in house fires since Dec. 1, federal officials said. That appears to be down from the 990 deaths in the same period the previous winter although statistics are still being compiled.

"When temperatures go down, we see home fire numbers rise and deaths increase," said Anne Marie Borrego, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross.

Requests to help people following house fires have jumped from about 5,000 a month this fall to 8,000 in January with more than $1 million in additional aid given out compared to the summer, Red Cross officials said.

House fires kill about 2,500 Americans annually. Cooking is the most common cause of fire, and smoking materials are the most common cause of fatal fires, according to the National Fire Protection Association.

But more than a third of all house fire deaths happen in December, January and February, the association said. That's in part because people trying to stay warm overload electrical circuits, run improperly installed heaters and crank up their wood stoves.

The cold also makes it hard to fight blazes because firefighters also are battling bitterly cold temperatures, deep snow and icy conditions, including slippery sidewalks and frozen hydrants.

"It has been a deadly year," said Thomas Olshanski, a spokesman for the U.S. Fire Administration. "Michigan is seeing it. Wisconsin is seeing it. Everybody's seeing it. It extends even down into Texas and the South … because the cold has been so far reaching."

Detroit had several major fires this winter. On Feb. 17, a house fire in the suburb of Hamtramck killed a family of four, including two young boys. Six days later, a fire displaced 15 families from a 30-unit apartment building on the city's east side.

In Massachusetts, an elderly woman and her son died Feb. 15 in a Waltham fire whipped by icy winds that made it hard to erect ladders, witnesses and firefighters said. On March 1, a fire destroyed a large home in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood.

And in the Chicago area, a man died March 4 after he jumped from the third floor of a condo building to escape a raging fire that took about 100 firefighters nearly 4 hours to control.

This weekend — at 2 a.m. Sunday — begins the spring forward into Daylight Saving Time. The Red Cross reminds people to change the batteries in their smoke alarms as they move their clocks ahead.

7 ways to stop a home fire before it happens

1. Keep all potential sources of fuel such as paper, clothing, bedding, curtains or rugs at least 3 feet away from space heaters, stoves or fireplaces.

2. Don't leave portable heaters and fireplaces unattended. Turn off space heaters and make sure any embers in the fireplace are extinguished before going to bed or leaving home.

3. Place space heaters on a level, hard and nonflammable surface (such as ceramic tile floor), not on rugs or carpets or near bedding or drapes. Keep children and pets away from space heaters.

4. When buying a space heater, look for models that shut off automatically if the heater falls over.

5. Never use a cooking stove or oven to heat your home.

6. Use a glass or metal fire screen to keep your fire in your fireplace. Make sure it's large enough to catch sparks and rolling logs.

7. Have wood and coal stoves, fireplaces, chimneys and furnaces professionally inspected and cleaned once a year.