Atlanta firefighters spent a little time Monday guarding against disaster. They distributed smoke alarms and fire extinguishers to residents in a northwest Atlanta neighborhood where a New Year's Day house fire killed a woman and seriously injured her husband.
Firefighters also offered carbon monoxide detectors, as well as heating safety tips to people living along Hightower Road, the site of Friday’s fatal fire.
Daisy Thomas, 68, died when a propane space heater apparently ignited a couch in her home in the 1000 block of Hightower Road. Her husband, whose name officials did not release, managed to flee the 2 p.m. blaze and was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. She did not make it out.
The couple was relying on a heater that should not be used indoors, said David Rhodes, battalion chief for the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department. They had neither gas nor electricity in their home.
The heater, he said, posed a double threat: It was too close to a combustible piece of furniture and could have caused a lethal build-up of carbon monoxide.
“Had this fire not occurred, there is a high possibility that these folks could have been killed by carbon monoxide poisoning,” he said.
Rhodes said the department has given away thousands of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms, and is prepared to give more. He urged Atlantans to watch for people who may not have homes that are adequately equipped to detect smoke or carbon monoxide.
“It’s neighbors looking out for neighbors,” he said.
The Ronnie Thames Foundation, a nonprofit created to help families devastated by fire, donated the fire extinguishers. The foundation, based in Fayetteville, is named in honor of a 29-year-old who died in a motorcycle accident.
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