Family saved by detectors

By SHELBY SCHROEDER

A family replaced the batteries two weeks before a fire at their home.

NILES — Replacing the batteries in a smoke detector saved the lives of a Niles family and earned them recognition by the state.

Tim Royer, a fire safety educator with the division of state fire marshal’s office, presented the Nicholas and Tricia Sennyk family with the Smoke D.O.G. award at the fire department Monday afternoon.

Standing for “smoke detector on guard,” it honors individuals who have “the foresight and responsibility of installing smoke detectors.”

Royer congratulated the family of four for replacing their detector’s batteries just two weeks before the fire.

On April 16 this year, the Sennyks, both 33, were awakened by the shrill siren of a smoke detector in the morning. A lamp in their children’s bedroom had fallen off a dresser, igniting a fire that consumed a portion of the crib of their youngest child, Maddy.

The family evacuated their home, suffering from smoke inhalation. Their two children, Maddy, 1, and Nicky, 2, were taken to Akron Burn Center for small burns that are now nearly invisible.

The family is healthy, the Sennyks said, and are happy to be back in their remodeled home on Brown Street. The fire damage forced them to live in a nearby Days Inn for three months during the remodeling.

As a precaution, they now have five smoke detectors in their home, have rearranged the furniture in their children’s bedroom, and refuse to put another lamp in it.

“We’re trying to make the house a little more safe,” said Nicholas.

“They say we’re paranoid,” Tricia quipped.

Though they’re more prepared than before, the family occasionally becomes fearful of another fire.

“Once in awhile I wake up thinking I see smoke, and I can’t help but worry about the kids,” Nicholas said.

Tricia said she had a similar daydream, where she believed she heard a smoke alarm going off and awoke, where she rushed upstairs to check on her children. The children, too, are upset by the sound of smoke detectors and firetrucks.

“It’s something we’ll never forget,” Nicholas said.

According to Royer, as many as 125 Ohioans have died in fires this year — already near the average number of fire-related deaths reported annually, which is 150. Royer said the death toll is significant because the colder months have yet to arrive.

“People haven’t even begun using wood stoves and fire heaters yet this year,” Royer said.

That’s when the number of home fires jumps, he said.

Niles Fire Chief Gary Brown said the deaths could be avoided by simply installing detectors. The fire department will even give homeowners one for free.

“People just have to come down here and get one,” Brown said. “We can even put it up in their house if they need help.”

Nicholas said the fire in their home has persuaded the family to talk with others about the danger of living without detectors.

“We’ve become advocates because of what happened to us,” Nicholas said. “If it saved our kids’ lives; it could save other kids’ lives, too.”

According to information provided by the state fire marshal, a smoke detector should be placed in every bedroom and on each floor of a home.

The use of smoke detectors is estimated to double a person’s chance of escaping a fire at night.

And that’s the message of the Smoke D.O.G. award, Royer said.

“Hopefully we can make people aware in the Valley.”

sschroeder@vindy.com