Preventing a House Fire From Turning Into Tragedy

March 9, 2007 — -- Fires kill more Americans each year than all other natural disasters combined, and this year is already turning out to be a deadly one: 460 people have died in an alarming series of fatal fires this winter.

Authorities are learning more about what made Thursday's terrible fire in the Bronx the deadliest in New York in more than a century.

The fire, which killed eight children and one adult, was probably sparked by a space heater, officials say. It's one of the most common causes of residential fires. The others are cooking, overloaded electrical strips, cigarettes and unattended candles.

Fire investigators describe a series of tragic missteps in the Bronx fire, like no batteries in the smoke detectors and residents who tried to fight the fire first before calling 911 and left a door leading to the fire open. That wasn't the case with a recent Maryland house fire, where Freddie Spry's five children survived because his oldest daughter knew exactly what to do.

"You can see from just the heat and the smoke what it did to the picture," Spry said, pointing to a picture that was in his home at the time of the fire. "Thank God everyone in my family's portrait is alive."

The fire started while Spry's wife was out getting a gallon of milk. The first lifesaver was the fact that the family's smoke alarms were working.

"It's almost like having a firefighter in your home telling your family get out and get out now," said Julie Vallese of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Twelve-year-old Alize Spry gathered her much younger brother and sisters in an upstairs bedroom and knew to call 911. The operator directed Alize to get down on the floor; she did and made sure her brother did too.

Moments later, firefighters arrived and pulled the now unconscious children through a window to safety.

"I thought I would never see this again. I thought I would never see my sister, my brother and my parents again," Alize said. "And I just tried the best I can to just do something."