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Local News

November 22, 2009

Smoke detector saves man’s life

Matt Tillson

Smoke detectors, those round alarms that give off an irritating beep when we have kept our dinner in the oven for too long. As irritating as these alarms are they can save your life or your home. For one Duncan man it saved both.

Johnnie Pruitt fell asleep at his parents home when he was awoke to the sound of the smoke detector and the smell of smoke. Pruitt jumped from the couch and ran to check the garage finding that a wall of flames six feet wide had begun to engulf the garage.

Without hesitation Pruitt ran to a water faucet located on the side of the house closest to the garage. Pruitt then hooked up a water hose and started to extinguish the fire. According to Pruitt’s father Jimmie the heat and smoke from the fire was so strong that Johnnie had to get on his knees to try and extinguish the flames.

“The heat was so strong that all of the plastic that we had in the garage began melting,” Pruitt said. “Luckily enough the water hose that we had hooked up was just long enough to reach the garage.”

Not having time to wait on the fire department, Pruitt kept fighting the fire until it was all out. For safety and precaution reasons he also sprayed down the gas cans that were on the top of some shelves in the garage. According to Oakridge Volunteer Fire Department Chief Gary Curtis if Johnnie had not sprayed the cans down the outcome could have become a lot worse.

“The Colman fuel that was stored in the garage was very near exploding,” Curtis said. “It is a true blessing that he had sprayed those cans as well cause it may have saved his life and the house.”

According to Pruitt the start of the fire was a short circuited wire from an extension cord that had been rubbing on a nail for several years.

“The extension cord was powering a fluorescent light in the garage I noticed the nail but never thought anything of it,” Pruitt said. “I also thought that it would be fine because it was hooked to a circuit breaker.”

Curtis said that if it had not been for the smoke detector the Pruitt house and possibly Pruitt family would not be here today.

“It is important to keep your smoke detectors in working condition,” Curtis said. “There are electric smoke detectors out there that are fine but you should always have a battery backup with them.”

With the holidays approaching Curtis also had some tips to keep everyone safe during the holiday season. When selecting a live tree needles should be green and hard to pull back and should not break. If a tree has many needles fall off, the tree has been cut for too long and will dry out becoming a fire hazard. People should keep their tree watered and not to place them too close to the fire place because the heat will dry them out quicker.

Holiday lights should be inspected for frayed wires bare spots in insulation, or broken and cracked sockets.

Curtis said that their are many Christmas ornaments and other decorations that have smoke detectors in them to help prevent fires.

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