Recent House Fires

January 19, 2010 4:23 PM


The Yankton Red Cross is also helping the family with food, clothing and other necessities. Unfortunately, this isn't the first family they've helped deal with devastation from fire in the past few weeks. KDLT had plans to meet with the fire division chief at Sioux Falls Fire Rescue to talk about all these recent fires. The interview had to be postponed because of another house fire. KDLT’s Krystle Kacner takes us to the scene.

Jim Sideras says, "There's been a lot of tragic fires in the region."

And Jim Sideras from Sioux Falls Fire Rescue says many of them, including this one could have been prevented.

Jim Sideras says, "That's what we're trying to stress. kids and candles that's a bad combination. Unattended candles. That’s a problem and this fire, inspectors believe now is related to a candle."

Firefighters say every second counts. In the case of this house fire they say a lot of time was saved by the fact the fire hydrant was already dug out for them.

Jim Sideras says, "Little things make all the difference. It’s like little tipping points. If we can keep candles from tipping over, we don't have a fire. If we can keep hydrants dug out we can have quick access."

No one was injured in this fire everyone got out in time. But officials say extensive damage was done to the house.

Jim Sideras says, "When the crews pulled up there were flames coming out of two windows."

It could have been worse, and for many families around the region, it has been.

Justin Thompson says, "I hope that this happens to no one else. It just happened to a family in Gayville, theirs happened at Christmas time. They pulled through it and I'm sure we can"

Melisa Smith, Director of American Red Cross Yankton County, says, "This is one of four fires we've had in the last month, and three of them, this being the third one, have been a complete loss for the family."

Proving even more, how important every little preventative step can be.

Fire department officials also stress the importance of watching out for emergency vehicles on the road, especially with the possibility of bad weather ahead.