With skyrocketing utility bills, focus shifts to safe heating
The following article appeared in the Boston Herald, September 21, 2008.
As cash-strapped Bay Staters scramble for cheap ways to heat their homes, the state fire marshal is warning that the national energy crisis could unleash a devastating wave of costly and potentially deadly fires this winter.
“I think it will be very dangerous,” said state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan. “Historically and statistically we know that it only takes really that first cold night when those furnaces kick on, the first log is put into the fire, when the first space heater is plugged into the wall. From a fire standpoint, those are bad nights for us.”
Heating-equipment blazes are the second leading cause of residential fires in Massachusetts, accounting for 14,075 fires, 15 civilian deaths, 59 civilian injuries, 117 firefighter injuries and $56 million in damages from 2003 to 2007, according to the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System.Among those casualties were little Rooben and Rebecca Zizi, ages 11 and 9, who were killed last Dec. 29 when a space heater ignited a two-alarm blaze that ripped through their Dorchester home.
Coan is worried skyrocketing energy costs will push residents to the brink this year. To combat the problem, he has convened the state’s first Winter Heating Fire Safety Task Force to spread the message: “Keep Safe, Keep Warm.”
“There’s no doubt people are going to make very hard decisions on whether I heat the house with oil or gas or I buy medicine or food,” said Coan. “That drives people to seek alternative methods of heating and some of them have proven to be very dangerous.”
Coan warns against:
Placing a space heater near a bed, blankets, drapes, or other flammable materials or using it as a primary heating source;
Using extension cords that are frayed or not rated for heaters;
Using stove burners or ovens.
For consumers using wood, pellet or coal stoves, Coan advises they have chimneys inspected for cracks, check their heating systems for tight piping and follow state building codes for getting new stoves inspected by building and fire officials.
The task force has representatives from the Patrick adminstration, utility companies, the attorney general’s office, fire departments, the Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Oilheat Council, the property insurance industry, Community Action programs, local councils on aging, the Salvation Army and Shriners, which raises money for children suffering serious burns.
The campaign has a Web site at mass.gov/dfs. A TV, radio and print media campaign is in the works. “We are really stepping it up this year to make sure people remember that it’s safety first,” said Marcy Reed, senior vice president of public affairs at National Grid.
The electricity and natural-gas utility is planning to buy advertising in weekly papers to spread the “Keep Warm, Keep Safe” message. National Grid has 815,000 natural-gas customers in the Bay State.
Advocates said more fuel assistance could ease the situation because so many cash-strapped families fret about paying their heating bills and resort to using ovens and space heaters.
There is $136.5 million in federal and state funds available to poor families for fuel assistance this year, a decrease of $2.5 million from last winter. At that level, most low-income families are expected to run out of fuel cash before Christmas, said Ann Berwick, state undersecretary for energy.
“You tell people the best you can not to do things, but when people get desperate they try to keep warm,” said John Drew, executive vice president of Action for Boston Community Development, which disperses fuel assistance to poor families. “It’s get to be nearing the time where we’re going to have a lot of anxiety.”