Halfway House Warning
In an effort to reduce the number of multiple fire deaths occuring in halfway houses, Gordon Vickery, administrator of the United States Fire Administration, has called upon state and local housing authorities to examine protection deficiencies in occupancies for the elderly and the mentally retarded.
Results of a Bradley Beach, N.J., investigation after a fire that claimed the lives of 24 of the 38 occupants showed the following contributing factors to the deaths: no secondary means of escape from upper floors, open stairwells, lack of early warning detection systems, and lack of fire doors on the occupants’ rooms.
