Fire marshal: Smoke alarms save lives

Having a properly functioning smoke alarm can be the difference between life and death, State Fire Marshal H. “Butch” Browning said Wednesday during National Fire Prevention Week.
Browning was guest speaker during Wednesday’s St. Mary Chamber of Commerce Business Luncheon at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City. The chamber also recognized the Morgan City Fire Department for its 144 years of existence.
Browning has served as state fire marshal since 2008 and formerly served as Gonzales fire chief.
Since the early 1900s, the first or second week of October has been promoted as National Fire Prevention Week. Legend has it that the initiative started after a cow kicked over a gas lantern in Chicago, causing the entire city to burn down, Browning said.
This year’s theme for the week is awareness of the importance of smoke alarms and replacing them every 10 years.
“Check your smoke alarm,” Browning said. “If it’s 10 years old, buy a new one. If the battery doesn’t work in it, really go buy a new one.”
Smoke alarms are vitally important to fire safety as an average of 63 people die in fires each year in Louisiana.
In 1992, Louisiana was the first state to pass legislation making 9-volt battery smoke alarms mandatory in homes.
Now, the technology is even better, and anyone trying to sell a home in the state is required to have 10-year, lithium batteries in smoke alarms.
Browning helped get the Legislature to pass that legislation by documenting fire deaths in homes where the batteries weren’t being replaced.
The state fire marshal’s office has a pro-gram called “Operation Save a Life” where the state purchases smoke alarms and provides them to people in need. Fire marshal and fire department personnel install the alarms.
In the past seven years, officials have installed about 80,000 alarms in Louisiana, Browning said.
In 2015, there were 12 documented incidents where those alarms detected a small fire that was either put out by the occupant or fire department, resulting in no deaths or injuries, he said.
Since becoming fire marshal, Browning has strived to make the agency one that solves problems instead of one that obstructs or hurts business.
Safety is the No. 1 concern for the State Fire Marshal’s office and always will be, he said. But the office’s No. 2 objective is to help economic development.
Public entities prosper under economic development and the tax money it generates.
The fire marshal is responsible for reviewing all commercial buildings in Louisiana to make sure structures are up to the state’s fire safety codes, Browning said.
Fire marshal personnel do fire safety inspections and investigate arson crimes in addition to many other duties. The office does 300,000 inspections, investigates 3,000 fires and makes 500 arrests in connection with those fires each year.