2nd Alarm Apartment fire

Indianapolis has recently had its share of multiple alarm fires.  The most recent was a 2nd Alarm at an apartment complex on the North side.  Fire crews arrived on the scene shortly before 6 in the morning and found heavy fire conditions in an entire unit.   They brought the fire under control in less than an hour, but the building that housed 8 apartments was destroyed.

What was unique about this fire was the lack of an early warning device sounding. It was reported that officers from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department arrived and pulled the fire alarms. Nothing worked.  At first it was thought the alarm system was out of order, but upon further investigation it was discovered that the alarm system had been inspected in April 2009 by a private company and was found to be in good operating condition.
 

Indianapolis Fire Inspectors received the inspection report and agreed that the alarmsystem should have worked.  Here is what is thought to be the problem; the apartment complex was built in 1966, before the codes for alarms had been updated.  It was only required to have a hard wired alarm system.  The fire had raced up the wall in one unit and the attic or common area and had become fully involved with fire, burning the wire and electrical system that managed the pull alarm station.  Without the presence of a secondary alarm, the residents were not notified by an early alarm system.

Marion County Municipal Code 591 which is in place today addresses this issue.  Code 591 requires a back up smoke and alarm system and NFPA 72 is also a standard for all dwellings and recommends a backup system to a hard or direct wired system.

As advice to all residents, either in homes or apartments, always have a backup system in place.  There are many models and types of fire, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and alarms on the market today.  Do your research and act now to protect your families.  Waiting until a fire happens is too late.

The Hastings Law Firm has experience in fire code violations and has litigated many such cases.  Tom Hastings, founder of the Firm, recently obtained a confidential settlement for a victim of a code violation case.