House fires have specific causes that lawyers must discover to recover.

Man Describes Rescuing Family From Blaze 1hr ...From House Fire Heriford ran to the front door. There, through the smoke-crusted glass, a tiny child begged for someone to help."When I saw that silhouette of that ... from Iowa News latest RSS headlines - Big News Network.com - Jan 28, 2011 (18 hours ago)

What started the house fire in Wayne County?

A house fire occurs; one person dies and another escapes. The survivors and relatives show up at your office and want the lawyer to help them get some answers. The lawyer has to start somewhere and to that he/she needs to have a framework from which questions flow. What questions come to mind when investigating such a claim for personal injury or death?

Winter Fire Safety Series: Carbon Monoxide Detectors

This blog is the sixth and final blog in a multipart series directed towards fire safety and prevention for the winter season. Within this blog, the dangers of the colorless, odorless, and toxic gas know as Carbon Monoxide. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), an estimated 2,100 people die annually due to accidental Carbon Monoxide exposure.

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is produced when fossil fuels such as gasoline, wood, coal, propane, oil, or methane burn incompletely. Heating and cooking appliances within the home can produce  CO if damaged or used inappropriately. Everyday highway vehicles such as cars, trucks, tractors, and other gas burning motors produce CO.

Carbon Monoxide affects the human body by suffocating it. CO replaces the oxygen within the blood, which causes the body to poison itself by cutting off the oxygen that is necessary for the everyday function of organs and cells. Low-level CO poisoning results in flu-like symptoms, where more serious exposure results in dizziness, disorientation, severe headaches, fainting, and death.

Carbon Monoxide detectors work by measuring the amount of CO gas that has accumulated within a given area. CO detectors sound an alarm when the concentration of CO in the air is equal to or above the lowest level of CO poisoning, or 10% carboxyhemoglobin level in the blood. This lowest level of sensitivity can cause the alarm to sound before symptoms actually appear; therefore, all alarms should be taken seriously.

Residential Carbon Monoxide detectors could greatly reduce the number of deaths resulting from unintentional CO exposure. When purchasing a CO detector, only units that have been tested by qualified testing laboratories should be considered. The manufacturers installation instructions should be followed, and the CO detector should be tested once a month to ensure proper operation.

Following these safety tips will help to prevent CO exposure within your home:

• Do not run motors indoors; even if the garage doors are open. Also, have your vehicles checked for exhaust leaks.
• Inspect and repair chimneys, fireplaces, wood stoves, and other home heating appliances that use fossil fuels. Also, double check to make sure you home heating appliances have adequate ventilation.
• Never use gas or charcoal barbecue grills indoors or within the garage, even if the garage doors are open.

Carbon Monoxide detectors only detect CO gas; they do not prevent the existence of CO gas. Use caution and follow safety guidelines to ensure that CO poisoning is adequately prevented within your home.

Winter Fire Safety Series: Smoke Alarms

This blog is the fifth in a multipart series directed towards fire safety and prevention for the winter season. In this blog, smoke alarms will be briefly discussed and will be accompanied by a list of suggestions for the proper installation and maintenance of the smoke alarms within your home.

Recently, a mother was killed and her son was seriously burned in an apartment fire. Investigators concluded that some of the smoke alarms had been deactivate why others had their batteries removed. If the alarms had not been deactivated it is likely that the woman would still be alive today. True, smoke alarms can go off at random times, but that just means that they are working.

About two-thirds of residential fire deaths occur in homes with either no smoke alarms or deactivated smoke alarms. Ninety percent of people found in a fire appear to be sleeping, this is because one cannot smell smoke while asleep. Thus, smoke detectors are essential to home safety. Statistics show that the presence of properly maintained smoke alarms within a home increases its residents' chances of survival by fifty percent.

Following these suggestions for the installation and maintenance of smoke alarms could save the lives of you and the members of your family:

• Install smoke alarms on every level of your home and follow the manufacturers instructions when installing.
• If you sleep with the bedroom door closed, a smoke alarm should be installed inside your bedroom.
• Smoke alarms should be tested once per month, and any old batteries should be replaced.
• Remind everyone in your household to leave working batteries in smoke alarms. Resist the temptation to remove them or to borrow the batteries for other purposes.

Remember: Smoke alarms will not prevent a fire, but the do increase your chances of survival should a fire occur. Again, a smoke alarm more than doubles your chances of survival.

Also, when purchasing a smoke alarm, look for one with a loud alarm-the more annoying the better it will be for waking up you and your family in the event of a fire. The fire alarm should also have a hush feature, an Underwriter's Laboratory (UL) listing, a malfunction indicator, and a ten-year battery. There are also a number of models of smoke alarms available for the hearing impaired.

The sooner you are alerted to a fire, the more likely you are to get out in time and contact the fire department. Having a working fire alarm, along with a family exit drill plan, is necessary within every household. It is too late to establish a fire escape plan after a fire has already begun and the alarms have already sounded.

A fire alarm will not save your life if you have removed its battery.