March 21, 2001

PRESS RELEASE

To: Newsroom

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer

Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Fire Investigators Release Findings in Two Recent Fires

■ Fires preventable

According to Shreveport fire investigators, recent fires that caused heavy property damage to two Shreveport homes this week could have been prevented. The first fire occurred Monday night at 2442 Hawkins, in the Martin Luther King Drive neighborhood of Shreveport. Shreveport firefighters responded to the home after a report from neighbors that smoke was coming from the roof. When fire crews arrived, the entire kitchen and den of the residence were involved in flames. In his report, Fire Investigator Russell Moon determined that the home’s stove top was left on and had burned through a skillet, starting the fire. Homeowner Joycelyn Holden, 32, was visiting friends and was not at home at the time of the fire.

The second fire occurred yesterday at 510 West 82^nd Street around 2:30 p.m. There, firefighters found the entire front of the house on fire, including a carport area where a car was parked. Tenant Mary Brooks, 51, told Fire Investigator Chris Robinson, that she was in the front yard of her Cedar Grove home when she first noticed a smoke smell. Brooks went inside to investigate and saw a small fire on her sofa. She then went to the kitchen to retrieve some corn meal and flour to douse the fire. When she returned to the living room, the fire was now involving the entire couch. Investigator Robinson concluded in his report that one of Brooks’ grandchildren, a four-year-old, started the fire by placing something in the home’s stove top, where Brooks was cooking beans, and then taking it to the couch. Damage to the home was extensive and listed as heavy. Additionally, Brooks’ 1991 Cutlass Calais, parked under the carport at the time of the blaze, sustaining major fire damage.

Fire officials caution that kitchen fires are the leading cause of fires in America, and cause more property damage than any other type of fire. Congruently, more injuries, 25-28 percent of all fire related injuries, are attributed to kitchen fires. Officials caution, that whenever a home’s oven or stove top is in use, supervision must be vigilant - and always remember to double check and make sure the appliance is turned off after use. Additionally, small children should never be left unattended with an open flame in the home, whether a fire place, space heater, over, or stove top.

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