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Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers
Triplets in House Fire in Bethesda--Install Fire Detectors
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Anonymous
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I feel so very badly for this family, whose 2 year-old triplets were injured by smoke inhalation in a house fire in Bethesda. My thoughts are with their family. Thank goodness for the brave firefighters who ultimately saved them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/05/AR2008120501830.html?hpid=topnews The article mentions that the family home did not have smoke detectors installed. I do not know if this would have made a difference in this case, but maybe it could have given them some more time to get out. I think we should all be reminded of the importance of smoke detectors and to always get our kids out as fast as possible, to not try to fight the fire ourselves. |
Anonymous
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First thing I did when I read that in the Post is to double check my smoke detectors. Praying for those dear children that they be spared suffering and have a full recovery. Mine are hard wired with the house, probably a good way to go.
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Anonymous
| Does anyone know how they are doing? I keep checking the Post but no update on them beyond that all 3 are in the hospital with severe smoke inhalation. I am praying for them. They don't live far from us and I saw the remnants last night. So awfully sad... |
Anonymous
| They didn't call 911 for quite awhile. The father tried to fight the fire with a garden hose and left the children inside in their cribs. The nanny was outside talking to her husband when she noticed the fire. And they didn't have smoke detectors? Wow. There but for the grace of God. . . . |
Anonymous
I heard the dad was at home on the computer (maybe reading DCUM?) and the nanny was outside while the children were upstairs napping. The nanny ran into the house to alert the dad when she saw smoke coming from the back of the house. Either "rumor", it's a tragic story. |
Anonymous
| They are friends of mine. Let's not judge, okay? Let's all just hug our kids a little closer tonight, check our detectors, and pray for the family. |
Anonymous
| Let's not judge? let's not judge??? No, I think we should. I think we should judge people who choose to have three children in the house with out smoke detectors. I think we should judge why the first instinct wasn't to get the kids out instead of picking up a garden hose. i don't think we should judge their decision to use the crib tents which slowed the firefighters down from getting the kids out of the cribs.... but the rest of it? Hell yes -- judge them as WRONG! |
Anonymous
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PP here
ohh...the righteous. What good is it doing you to judge? Is it going to make the kids get better faster? Or for the family not to have to rebuild their lives? I am sure they would change things if they could and do things differently. Hindsight is 20/20. But unless you have talked to the family -you only are getting one side of the story. The medias. |
Anonymous
I hope you are perfect. |
Anonymous
| You don't have to judge to use this experience as a teaching example. Since my kids read the story in the paper/saw it on tv, we have gone over the many things we have done/would do differently. We have smoke detectors (hard wired and battery backups), we have an escape plan, the kids know what to do if the alarm wakes them (they're a bit older). We also went over the order of actions: first evacuate, then call 911, then think about whether you can contain the fire in any way. We live in that neighborhood and they saw the house, so I'm hoping the lessons will stick. |
Anonymous
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We all make mistakes, hopefully others will learn from the tragic errors that happened. But I have to admit as I was reading the Post article today and yesterday that the mistakes were really so glaring and irresponsible. This is so sad because it was so preventable, based on the facts in the news article. Those firefighters are true heroes.
That said, all you can do know is preach to others the basics in fire safety. My sincere prayers for the family. |
Anonymous
It'd be silly to judge for the crib tents. What if the kids HAD gotten out? Would they have made it outside, or just gotten lost in the house to die? No telling. At least in the cribs they could be found- though my initial reaction was to view the crib tent as only a danger in this scenario. I hope everyone will go and check their smoke alarms after this. The family needs support, not judgment, but everyone else should learn from this and make their homes safer for the kids. We're all so quick to criticize tv for being bad for kids, fast food, but then keep them in a home with no smoke detectors? healthy choices have to go beyond the things many obsess about on here. |
Anonymous
| Judging poster here -- this has NOTHING to do with whether I am perfect or whether I expect others to be perfect --- I didn't say gee, we should judge them b/c they didn't have fire evacuation plan in place or gee, they should have called 911 faster... I'm saying judge them b/c they had no smoke detectors, HELLO??? Who lives like this? You cannot legally even build a house today without a smoke detector at every bedroom!! This is like home ownership 101 -- have a working smoke detector!! |
Anonymous
| On ABC local news this morning, they mentioned that the cribs had tents made of netting on top of each crib (to prevent the children from getting out). The firefighters said this made it difficult to get the children out of the house quickly and caused them to lose precious time. |
Anonymous
| why judge, instead learn from someone else. It is tragic. Why father picked up hose instead of children, maybe he was in a panic. I think it is STUPID not to have detectors all over the house and this should be a example of why. We learn from others. I am sure they feel bad about not having smoke detecters, they are free from fire stations and very cheap else where. |