Barbara Lee Introduces Bill to Reduce Fire Deaths
(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) introduced the Safe Access in Fire Emergencies (S.A.F.E.) Act, legislation that would help reduce fire deaths caused by window security bars.
“This is a common sense step that we can take to stop preventable fire deaths,” said Lee. “People need the peace of mind of knowing that securing their houses against burglary doesn’t mean making their families more vulnerable to fires.”
Lee’s legislation directs the Consumer Product Safety Commission to develop a national standard for residential window bars.
Residential window bars, also known as security or burglar bars, are installed to deter crime in private residences. However, these window bars are often a barrier to safe and swift exit in the case of fire. According to the United States Fire Association, children, the elderly, mobility impaired, and firefighters are especially vulnerable to fatalities or injuries involving residential window bars.
Lee first learned about the many risks of residential window bars when five children perished in an Oakland house fire in 1995. Their escape was hampered by unopenable burglar bars, and their mother, who escaped, was unable to rescue her children. In 1997 we in the East Bay were horrified again when another nine people died in a residential fire when exit was again barred by residential window bars. For three years, Lee worked in California to develop clear labeling and a state standard for quick-release mechanisms in residential window bars.
At least fourteen states including Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas, have recorded deaths in residential fires as a result of entrapment by window bars. Last June five children were killed in a house fire in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; their escape was prevented by ground-level, residential window bars.
###