Official advises on fire safety in mobile homes BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer HAZLET - About 30 people crowded a conference room at the public library Saturday morning to hear Hazlet Fire Official John Beslanovitz deliver a presentation on fire prevention. Beslanovitz was asked to speak at the Hazlet Mobile Home Owners Association meeting in light of a Sept. 3 blaze that took the lives of three people living in a mobile home. Residents of mobile home communities such as Brookside, Sam's Park and Bayshore Manor all crowded into the room as Beslanovitz spoke for 45 minutes about how to keep them safe from fires. "I cannot talk enough about how important a smoke detector is in your homes," Beslanovitz said. "If there was a functioning smoke detector in that home, I think those people would have been here today." He told those in attendance that some smoke detectors do not wake people up, and that is a problem. Carbon monoxide and smoke may actually cause people to go into a deeper sleep and make it harder for them to wake up in time to get out of the house. Most people, according to Beslanovitz, think the fire detector is just an alarm clock waking someone up. "One detector I've seen which is really good is where you can put a voice recording in it," Beslanovitz said. "If a child hears his mother screaming in his detector 'Johnny wake up!,' they are more likely to wake up right away." He said that some people complain their detector is too high up to check to see if it works. Beslanovitz suggested poking the detector with a broom or cane as opposed to lowering it. If lowered, people are more likely to take the battery out when the alarm sounds by accident. Hazlet's fire companies have been giving out smoke detectors free of charge to mobile home residents to keep them safer. Beslanovitz said that so far, they have installed 40 to 45 smoke detectors, many of which he has done himself with the mobile home residents not paying a dime. He also told residents that if a fire breaks out late at night, they should not hesitate to call the fire companies. "Please don't think that you are going to be waking us up from our sleep," Beslanovitz said. "That's our job to come put out the fire. It's what we do." A problem that has been common in mobile home communities is the unorthodox numbering of the homes. Sometimes it is confusing to firefighters when the numbers on the homes aren't in order. The fire companies are looking to put more fire hydrants in the communities, as well as moving other hydrants closer to a block of mobile homes. A fire hydrant is supposed to be placed within 500 feet of a home. "The number of hydrants in an area may only mean saving a few minutes in the time we get there," Beslanovitz said. "But in our line of business, a few minutes could mean all of the difference." Also, an advantage to having more hydrants is that having a hydrant closer to a home lowers the insurance on the house. Beslanovitz has been speaking to groups such as this about the importance of changing batteries once a year. "I said to some people who drink beer, instead of buying one six-pack, go and buy a six-pack of batteries," Beslanovitz said. He also told the people in attendance about the importance of having a fire extinguisher handy. But if a fire breaks out, he said to leave the extinguishing to the professionals. "A small extinguisher is like bringing a squirt gun going to a gunfight," Beslanovitz said. "What we have at the fire company is like having a sixshooter." Beslanovitz feels the best way to teach fire prevention is to go through the children. He has been speaking to schools throughout Hazlet preaching fire safety. "When I have an assembly and tell the children the best way to deal with a fire, it gets to them immediately," Beslanovitz said. "They go home and tell their parents right away and make them check. That's how to get things done."