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Were two recent fire fatalities preventable?
Two MetroWest residents were killed in fires separated by less than a week and in each case the homes that burned either did not have smoke detectors or they didn't work.
The lack of that most basic of fire detection equipment may have been the difference between life and death in at least one of those fires, a fire official said.
If a home on Framingham's Longview Road heavily damaged by fire last weekend had smoke detectors, a 41-year-old man killed may still be alive, Framingham Fire Chief Gary Daugherty said.
"If the fire was discovered sooner, even if he was injured, they (firefighters) may have been able to save him," Daugherty said. "It's the early detection of the fire that is key, so people can get out quickly. That's the key to the whole thing. The house can be rebuilt."
Last Saturday night, a man, identified by neighbors as Dean Morganti, died when the fire broke out at his 22 Longview Road home. Three other residents of the home escaped.
The home is owned by Thomas and Elaine Morganti.
Daugherty said he could not confirm the identity of the man killed because the medical examiner's office has not yet positively identified him.
On Wednesday afternoon, a 98-year-old woman died when a four-alarm fire torched her 52 Whitman St. home in Stow.
State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan said the investigation shows smoke alarms did not go off in the home.
"That is a very tragic part of the story," said Coan. "Clearly we know that your chance of surviving a serious residential fire is increased with early warning. Part of my thought process is that people inherently believe they are not going to be victims of fire."
In Massachusetts, any time a home changes hands, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are required to be installed if they are not already there.
"It is something we take very seriously," said Coan. "Having operating smoke alarms is a determining factor in whether there is survivability."
When the Fire Marshal's office is called to investigate a fire, one goal is to determine whether the building had a smoke alarm system and whether that system was working.
Last year, 25 Massachusetts residents died in 21 fires in residential buildings. Coan's office was able to determine that in 60 percent of those fires, the homes had smoke detectors, but 50 percent of them didn't work.
Daugherty said the Framingham home that burned last week has been owned for about 40 years, so it never went through the now required inspection.
Daugherty said it is uncommon to find homes without smoke detectors.
"It's gotten more restrictive over the years," he said. "It happens occasionally we run into homes without them, but it's not as common as it was 30 years ago."
Daugherty said many fires are stopped early when smoke detectors sound. Often, cooking fires in apartments are discovered when neighbors hear the smoke alarms when someone is not home.
"If they didn't have smoke detectors, the whole apartment would be damaged," he said.
In Massachusetts, homeowner's insurance does not require a home to have smoke detectors, although it is encouraged, said Susan McCarthy of Fitts Insurance in Framingham.
Insurance companies offer credits for homeowners for safety items, from 2 percent for smoke detectors to as much as a 10 percent credit for sprinklers.
"I think the assumption is made that it is up to the individual town to make sure they (smoke detectors) are there," McCarthy said.
Years ago, the Framingham Fire Department had a program in which people could get smoke detectors at local fire stations. Daugherty said he hopes he can get funding to start the program again.
Until then, he said if people have questions about installing smoke detectors, or where the best place to put them is, to contact them.
"We'll come to the house and do an assessment if you want us to," he said.
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