Greenfield house fire causes minimal damage; officials credit family for containing blaze
GREENFIELD -- A Greenfield family returns home after a day of shopping to find flames tearing through a bedroom. But firefighters say one thing they did may have kept the whole house from burning down.
"Typically this is a busier time of year for fires," said Lieutenant Brian Krueger, Greenfield Fire Department.
Whether it's items like space heaters or Christmas decorations, fires have the potential to break out in a matter of moments.
"Smoke detectors work, they save lives," said Krueger.
Recently, a Greenfield family returned home to hear the sound of a blaring fire alarm.
"They had stated that the fire started in the bedroom upstairs," said Krueger.
Photos show the room's charred remains, walls and busted window.
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Lieutenant Brian Krueger with the Greenfield Fire Department, says the blaze didn't spread to other rooms because of something the residents did unknowingly.
"They found the bedroom door had been closed. They do that periodically because of the dog they have. When the crews entered the house they found that because the door had been closed, it contained the fire to the room of origin which was that bedroom," said Krueger.
Lieutenant Brian Krueger
The room sustained substantial damage, but because of that one simple step the fire didn't get the chance to spread through the house.
"When a fire becomes oxygen-starved, or oxygen-limited, it will self-extinguish to a certain degree," said Krueger.
Krueger says for many years, firefighters have taught people that closing doors keeps fires out -- now new theories prove it keeps it in as well.
"This case proved some of the new studies are showing fire can be kept in which prevents the fire spreading throughout the rest of the residence," said Krueger.
Firefighters recommend that smoke detectors should be installed in each bedroom for early recognition so people can get out. The city of Greenfield just received a grant to install close to 100 smoke detectors in residences that are at high risk for either not having them, or ones where they've been inside and know are not working properly.