Noting the date, Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel with the Philadelphia Fire Department (PFD) encouraged residents who have not yet disposed of their Christmas trees following the holiday season to do so.
“Please,” he said. “It’s January—whatever. Get rid of the tree if it’s in your house. And next year, remember this.”
Thiel shared his advice for residents at a Tuesday afternoon press conference, during which he and other city officials provided the public with an update on the preliminary results of their investigation into the January 5 fire.
Last week, fire officials said they responded to reports of a residential fire at a three-story rowhouse shortly after 6:30 a.m. local time on January 5. Firefighters fought the flames for about 50 minutes before the blaze was extinguished, officials said.
Twelve people, including eight children, died in the fire, the PFD said last week. On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Medical Examiner’s Office said nine of the 12 individuals who died in the fire were children.
The PFD Fire Marshall’s Office began an investigation into the cause of the fire in collaboration with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
All of the fatalities occurred in one of the building’s two units, which was located on the second and third stories. Thiel said officials believe the unit had 14 occupants, while the first and second stories in the building’s other unit had eight occupants.
Thiel described the conditions the firefighters faced as involving “zero visibility” and “high heat.”
“And by high heat, I’m talking about 900 to 1,000 degrees at the ceiling,” he said. “Toxic smoke filling the entire building. And it’s loud in a fire.”
In the days following the blaze, Thiel said investigators sifted through debris and now believe with “99 to 100 percent certainty” that a Christmas tree was first to catch fire.
“We believe with near certainty, based on the evidence, that the ignition source for that tree was a lighter that was located nearby,” Thiel added. The tree and lighter were both located on the second floor, he said.
A 5-year-old was the only survivor found on the second floor, Thiel said.
“We are left with the words of that 5-year-old child—that traumatized 5-year-old child—to help us understand how the lighter and the tree came together with tragic consequences,” he said.
Thiel encouraged Philadelphia residents to keep a close eye on live Christmas trees when they are brought inside the home and keep them watered throughout the holiday season. He encouraged residents to watch a Christmas tree safety video that the fire department shares every year and noted that trees in homes are “surrounded” by items that can burn quickly.
“Instead of that tree just quickly flaring up, burning and that’s it, that radiant heat, the convective heat also, moves through that space and quickly ignites the other items,” he said.
Data compiled by the National Fire Protection Association shows fire officials responded to an estimated average of 160 yearly residential fires linked to Christmas trees between 2015 and 2019. For about 20 percent of those fires, “some type of heat source” was later determined to be “too close” to the Christmas tree, according to the association.
The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) says that Christmas trees should be placed at least three feet from radiators, candles, space heaters and other heat sources. The USFA also advises that people dispose of the trees once Christmas is over.
U.S. Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell told Newsweek on Tuesday that she spoke with Thiel about the Fairmount fire’s origin and said she found the lack of both working smoke detectors and of paths for escape inside the building concerning.
“Often in a fire like this, even when we have a point of origin, there are several other things that can occur or not occur that can contribute to people escaping or not escaping,” Moore-Merrell said. “If we can just change even one of those, then we can stop these fatalities.”
The PFD said last week the two units in the building, which is owned by the Philadelphia Housing Association (PHA), were most recently inspected last spring. At the time of their inspections, their smoke detectors were “operating properly,” the PHA told the PFD.
Thiel said Tuesday that six smoke detectors in the unit where the fire occurred were either inoperable or disabled at the time of last week’s fire.
“If they’d had working smoke detectors, then they would have been alerted in time, perhaps, to get out. If they’d had the second point of egress, they may have had another option,” Moore-Merrell told Newsweek.
Moore-Merrell said it is important to address that the Christmas tree was the first item to ignite in the fire, an occurrence that she said is “problematic every year.” She encouraged people to ensure their Christmas trees have plenty of water during the holiday season and advised against overloading electrical outlets or using holiday decoration lights with frayed wires.
In addition to taking precautions with decorations, Moore-Merrell offered year-round advice for preventing and responding to residential fires.
“Have working smoke detectors,” she said. “Heed any fire alarm that you hear. Sometimes we become unconscious to them because we hear them often and they’re nuisance alarms. But it’s the one time you don’t heed when it’s real.”
When a fire breaks out in a high-rise building, residents who do not live on the same floor where the fire is burning should shelter in place until or unless they are instructed to evacuate, she added.
“The other thing is, read directions on appliances or devices. And that has to do with Christmas decorations as much as it has to do with space heaters,” Moore-Merrell said. “All of them have limitations, and they have instructions and directions about proper use. And we must heed those. Read the directions on your Christmas decorations and understand how to properly care for them. And then always, always know your egress route and practice it.”
Update 01/11/22, 6:14 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include comments from U.S. Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell.
