WISCONSIN (NBC 26) — With the on-going stretch of freezing temperatures, the American Red Cross of Wisconsin says it’s important for your family to be educated on fire prevention and how to safely escape from your home during a fire.
As these bitterly cold temperatures have continued to stick around, it’s no secret people are turning up the heat.
“It is brutally cold, we understand that” , said Justin Kern, the communications director for the American Red Cross of Wisconsin.
Officials say it's become common to hear of people use alternative heating sources such stove tops, ovens, space heaters, and even candles.
“That’s just asking for issues if they’re trying to supplement their heating with that. So we always see an increase in home fires and unfortunately, we usually see an increase of people getting hurt or even killed in home fires this time of year”, said Eric Johnson, the Assistant Chief of Fire and Safety Training for De Pere Fire and Rescue.
Particularly the American Red Cross of Wisconsin says they’ve been seeing a lot more multi-family, apartment fires.
“We had a big apartment complex fire in Menasha, we had one it’s not in the map in Clintonville just this past weekend. So it really is happening all over the place at these big apartment complex fires at these kind of multi-unit homes”, Kern said.
While the Clintonville Fire Chief said this weekend’s fire is not believed to be a result of an alternative heating source, he does say they believe it did spark from not attending the stove.
“An active and functional smoke detector was really the saving grace here that we didn’t have something worse with a loss of life or larger property loss”, said Shane Krueger, the Clintonville Fire Chief.
Other officials in Clintonville say they have to credit one selfless individual who helped victims escape.
“The caller who immediately started knocking on the doors of other apartments in alerting them to get out that there was a fire. So he assisted the police department in notifying”, said Shane Krueger, the Clintonville Police Chief.
And while it’s never ideal to be a part of a fire, officials say it’s important to make a safety plan and discuss an escape route with your family.
It's also important to double check your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
For any families needing help Kern said calling 2-1-1 is a great resource.
