Falmouth Fire Chief Howard Rice credited smoke detectors with saving the lives of two local residents during a fire earlier this week.
The call to firefighters came in just after 1 a.m. Monday morning on Coles Village Road, where two residents had evacuated due to the amount of smoke and gas from a small fire caused by a space heater. While the damage was limited, Rice credits working smoke detectors for saving the inhabitants’ lives.
“The location of the fire was at the egress point from the bedroom and had the fire been any larger it may have cut off the main path of the occupants to safety,” Rice said in a press release.
According to Rice, the male occupant reported that he was alerted by the sound of smoke detectors going off. When he woke up, smoke was starting to bank down from the ceiling and cut visibility. The man was able to grab his young daughter and flee the building. The damage was limited to the wall between the living room and the bedroom, according to Rice, and there were no injuries.
Seventeen firefighters responded to the scene, which was cleared in about an hour.
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