Call To Action After Six-Year-Old Dies In Plainfield
September 26, 2016 – Common Voices is working to provide education regarding modern fire and the threat it poses following last week’s fire in Plainfield, CT that claimed that life of a six-‐year-‐old girl and left her mother fighting for life.
“Enough is enough, and it’s time for Connecticut to acknowledge the danger of fire with proactive code adoption that includes fire sprinklers that protect citizens and firefighters,” said Sher Grogg, a Common Voices advocate. “The tragedy in Plainfield and the loss of life of a child underscores this -‐-‐-‐especially since the fire occurred in a newly constructed home. We know that if the house had fire sprinklers, the outcome would have been much different.”
Grogg lost her brother, sister-‐in-‐law, and their four grandchildren in an Annapolis, MD fire in January of 2015. She has educated herself regarding fire, flashover, and become an advocate for fire sprinklers in the year and a half since her family tragedy. She credits finding Common Voices as a key part of her recovery process, even though nothing will ever be able to bring her family members back.
“As fire service professionals, we know one of the most effective ways to minimize the loss of life and property is through automatic fire sprinklers,” adds West Haven Fire Marshal, Keith Flood, who is the CT Fire Sprinkler Coalition Chair. “Sprinklered homes have a significantly reduced death rate per fire, and property damage in buildings with fire sprinklers can be drastically minimized. This is because sprinklers contain fires at their location of origin over 90 percent of the time.”
For the National Fire Protection Association’s research on fire statistics, please visit www.nfpa.org.
“The U.S. fire service has endorsed fire sprinklers as one of its major strategies to keep firefighters and citizens safe,” says Chief Ronald J. Siarnicki, Executive Director of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. “Firefighter Life Safety Initiative #15 states that the enforcement of codes and the installation of fire sprinklers is a priority and this tragedy in Connecticut underscores the importance of fire sprinklers.”
For more details about the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s Life Safety Initiatives, please visit www.firehero.org.
About Common Voices
Common Voices (www.fireadvocates.org) is an advocates’ coalition of members who all have been directly affected by fire. By bringing their voices together, they hope to educate others regarding fire and its devastating impact. Their mission is to create a fire-safe America by sharing their stories, creating resources that educate and sharing fire statistics.