Anchorage fire fatalities have been on the rise and the new year has only just begun.
According to Fire Marshal Brian Dean, across the country, the number of fires is going down but the rate of fire fatalities is increasing. That also seems to be the case in Anchorage where the fire department reports five fire fatalities since the start of 2023. This is already more than the number of fatalities in all of 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. There were just two fatalities in Anchorage in all of 2020, three in 2021 and four in 2022.
Dean said fires in 2023 had different causes, including blocked dryer vents and heating devices placed too close to combustibles, but he added that the majority of fatal fires did have something in common.“The biggest factor that we have in this is not working smoke alarms,” said Dean. “If you don’t have a working smoke alarm your chances, they just go dramatically down to getting out. That early notification is critical.
“They take one breath of that and you are immediately in a coughing fit. Your second breath … lack of oxygen will cause you to pass out and you’ll become unconscious right away. So that’s the number one cause is smoke inhalation. Not necessarily the fire but the smoke inhalation that causes incapacitation and death in a fire scene if you are trapped in the fire,” said Dean.
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