BROOKINGS – A young man’s life was saved by his smoke alarm during a mobile home fire early Tuesday morning, according to Deputy Fire Chief Pete Bolzer, who added a warning.
The fire was preceded by another call, so Brookings firefighters were busy Tuesday morning.
The tones went off at 1 a.m. for a malfunctioning fire alarm at The Neighborhoods at Brookview, Bolzer said. Although a false alarm, firefighters respond as usual until they are told to stand down. Then they have to turn around, put the equipment away and let the adrenaline rush subside before they can get some sleep.
The mobile home fire was reported at 4:22 a.m. Tuesday and occurred at 521 12th St. S.
“It was fully involved when I got on scene,” Bolzer said.
“One male occupant was awakened by a smoke alarm,” he said. The man got his dog out and then tried to locate the fire.
“By that time … (the fire) had actually taken off. He did have some singed hair, but no injuries,” Bolzer said.
The mobile home was a total loss, and there was minor damage to the siding of an adjacent mobile home, he added.
No firefighters reported injuries, which surprises Bolzer.
“Due to the icy conditions, we had several of them slip and fall,” he said.
The BFD had five apparatus on scene. They were assisted by the Brookings Police Department and Brookings County Sheriff’s Office. The Brookings Ambulance was also on scene.
The fire crew cleared the scene at 7 a.m.
Bolzer said the suspected cause of the fire was accidental, but he planned to take another look.
“I got a good idea, but I want to look at some other things now that it’s daylight,” he said.
The important thing is there were no injuries.
“I’d really like to stress the fact that I feel a working smoke alarm saved this young man’s life,” Bolzer said.
In addition to making sure there’s working smoke alarms, he offered other advice to keep people safe.
“Given the fact that our weather is turning colder and it’s gonna be really cold this weekend, everybody needs to be careful with space heaters and things like that,” Bolzer said.
If you do have a fire, it’s best if you get out and stay out, he said.
“Hopefully, their smoke alarms alert them and they get out of there,” he said. “(If they) try to figure out what’s going on and don’t get out of there, due to the speed that fires spread these days, it would be very easy for someone to get trapped in a home, especially a mobile home.”
Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.
