A row house fire that killed 12 people, including eight children, in Philadelphia on Wednesday emphasizes the importance of smoke detectors.

The blaze likely started when a Christmas tree ignited inside the building, according to sources involved with the probe.

The four smoke alarms in the building, which was public housing, do not appear to have been working, fire officials said.

According to state law, every home shall have a minimum of one operable automatic smoke detector on each floor, including the basement and attic.

For rental properties, such as the one that caught fire in Philadelphia, there shall be at least one smoke detector on each floor interconnected and audible throughout the home or an automatic fire alarm system that is audible throughout the home.

The National Fire Protection Association said an average of 1,450 fire deaths occur every year in homes with missing or nonfunctioning smoke alarms. It points out that almost three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms (40 %) or smoke alarms that were not working (17 %).

There were 134 fire-related fatalities in the state last year; thankfully none occurred in Butler County. But a 2-year-old boy died in a fast-moving fire in Butler on New Year’s Eve 2020.

There is no reason why every home and business in the state should not have functioning smoke alarms.

With the switch to daylight saving time each November, we are reminded that it also is time to change the batteries in our smoke detectors.

If you didn’t check them then, please do so now.

Some fire departments offer reduced-price, or even free, smoke alarms. Contact your local fire department’s nonemergency phone number for more information.

The cost of the detector isn’t worth the gamble for your life or your family’s life.

— JGG