Fire Accidents Can Happen to You

Bellingham, WAA campfire represents the perfect end to a perfect day in the wilderness. We look forward to them. And yet how we fear fire, and fire accidents.

The thought of losing a child, one's home, health, a job - are all tied to the fear of starting, living through, or dying from a fire. Disfigurement from burns, beyond the sheer pain and discomfort, can extend to career paths and affect your life and livelihood - and ultimately, your future.

Perhaps you have been through one - as this writer has, years ago, one apartment removed from the nurse who lived next door and fell asleep smoking in bed. While she initially escaped the flames, in an act of stupidity she went back into the inferno to rescue her cat and was overcome by the smoke.

She didn't survive.

It is stories like these, and others we read about that lay at the foundation for our caution. We make sure our smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are working, we keep nothing combustible in the house. We defer to flashlights rather than candles, and we watch over the wood stove like a hawk. We keep a check on our appliances to make sure they're not running hot, and dare not fiddle with the wiring in the house, both for the shock hazard, and the fire hazard caused by inexperience.

We know that 85 per cent of all fires happen at our place of residence, and we do everything we can to beat the odds.

But sometimes, the odds catch up to you. And sometimes, it is beyond your control.

Like the South Linden couple in Columbus Ohio, who lost their four children in a duplex fire. The cause is still unknown, but the grieving parents have launched a lawsuit against their landlord, and owner of the building, for negligence. The lawsuit claims that the premises were besieged with inadequate protection from too few, or inoperable smoke alarms, electrical problems, and mice infestation - which given what mice like to do, may have had a bearing on the building's electrics. The landlord is also charged with improper use, storage and disposal of highly flammable pesticides.

In another case, the death of an infant boy is being blamed on a fire that was allegedly caused by an Xbox that had overheated. Microsoft, Wal-Mart, and an as-yet unnamed power supply manufacturer have been named in a lawsuit. The accident happened in 2004.

In 2005 Microsoft recalled 14 million Xbox power cords over fire concerns.

Sometimes, a fire can happen where you least expect it - such as in a church courtyard, praying. That's what happened to Josefina Martin of the Pacoima district of Los Angeles, when a lit candle ignited her skirt and she suffered third degree burns to her ankles, legs, back, arms and hands, in October of 2005. She and her husband sued the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and the settlement was announced May 31st.

And it's not often that fires happen in the operating room, but when it does, the consequences can be serious, given the presence of pure oxygen.

In January 2003, a patient identified as Dennis Rockenbach of Bellingham, Washington was undergoing laser throat surgery at St. Joseph Hospital, when a cuff designed to preserve unobstructed airflow to the patient and keep pure oxygen away from the heat of the laser, became perforated. Rather than replace the cuff, surgeons elected to cover the perforation with a cotton patch. The laser eventually ignited the latter, and the resulting fire required the patient to suffer through additional surgeries to repair the damage, and Rockenbach was left with a permanent tracheal implant.

Lawyers for Rockenbach argued that the cuff, according to protocol, should have been replaced before the operation was allowed to continue.

In the end, Rockenbach sued the physicians and the hospital for malpractice, and was awarded $7 million in damages.