For the first time in six years, the number of annual fire fatalities in Alabama reached triple digits. In 2016, 109 people in Alabama died in fires, about 30 more deaths than the six-year average of 81. The grim toll put Alabama in the top five states with the highest number of fire deaths last year.
“That’s one of the categories you never want to lead in,” Dothan Fire Marshal Chris Etheredge told DothanFirst News. And so far in 2017 there have already been 13 fatalities.
Etheredge hopes year-round fire safety education, like the importance of having functioning smoke alarms, will help save lives. The Dothan Fire Department has teamed up with the American Red Cross to provide smoke alarms to people who don’t have them.
Of the 109 fire fatalities that occurred in 2016, 15 of them took place during the first three weeks of the year. Six of them occurred on New Year’s Day including a house fire off of County Road 296 in Jackson County that killed five people: Carolyn Quarles, 63; Kimberly Alexander, 34; Tony Alexander, 42; Breanna Alexander, 8; and Emily Alexander, 6.
Another fire that day claimed the lives of twin 19-montth-olds Kelsey and Kamden Williams in Jasper. Their father, Darrin Williams, was watching the twins play in the living room but left them alone briefly to use the restroom. When he returned, the couch was on fire. He tried to drag the couch out of the house, but the flames spread throughout the room. Investigators determined that the source of the fire was electrical.
Later that month, two women died in an apartment fire in Vestavia Hills. Firefighters found the bodies of Carol Bester, 62 and Leslie Renee Bobo, 52, in two different units of the complex located near Massey and Columbiana Roads. Eight other residents were treated for injuries at a local hospital.
Sources:
http://www.dothanfirst.com/news/2016-fire-fatalities-in-alabama-hit-triple-digits-for-first-time-in-six-years/647444068
http://www.wbrc.com/story/31005946/15-people-killed-in-al-fires-in-first-three-weeks-of-2016