Safety plans save lives
Three residents who have made their home in the Heritage Apartments for the elderly sustained injuries early Sunday morning when the third floor of the building caught fire. We wish them a speedy recovery and congratulate rescuers for leading the other 30 residents to safety. Few fire calls bring more trepidation to firefighters than ones involving housing for the elderly or infirm. Just this past Sunday, the Herald-Standard published a feature story on the rebuilding of Dainty’s Valley Elderly Care nursing home.
More than three years after a cigarette caught the home on fire, and caused the death of three of the residents, the home is rebuilt and nearing its full capacity of 37 patients. Owner Timothy Tisot wants to make sure that such a tragedy never occurs again. He has banned smoking, even from a designated area, has installed 24-hour video monitoring, a sprinkler system and fire extinguisher throughout the building and an evacuation plan. Some measures, such as widening the hallways to accommodate two passing wheel chairs, exceed safety codes. But Tisot wisely reasoned that this is a necessity as the standard hallways slow evacuation during the fire.
The Heritage owners, in repairing an estimated $300,000 in damages, should also look toward safety improvements. A police report noted that the building is not equipped with a sprinkler system. Perhaps now is the time to look at installation.
In addition to many personal care and nursing homes, Fayette County has a number of multi-story buildings that were constructed especially for the elderly who are capable of living on their own with little assistance. The Dainty fire where three were killed and now the Heritage fire in which three were injured serve as a warning to all who house the elderly to review fire suppression and evacuation plans. The local fire departments are more than willing to lend a hand because the more they know about a building the better prepared they are when these calls come in. As distressing as the Heritage fire is to the residents, it could have been much worse had the Uniontown Fire Department not been familiar with the building.