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--> --> Apartment blaze claims 3-year-old; smoke detectors without batteries By Myles Murphy Ashland Daily Tidings Disabled apartment smoke alarms likely contributed to the tragedy of the Thursday apartment fire which left one Ashland child dead and another injured. "We feel it was an essential element," Ashland Fire Chief Keith Woodley said today. "The evidence suggests if the smoke alarms were working, there would have been earlier notification of the fire for the residents." The fire broke out early Thursday morning at the Tudor Square apartment complex in the 700 block of Terra Avenue. Two girls, ages 15 months and 3 years, were rushed to the Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford for treatment of smoke inhalation and other fire-related injuries. The 3-year-old girl died at Rogue Valley Medical Center at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, and the condition of the 15-month-old girl is unknown. Medical center officials will not release information on the condition of the girl, or even confirm she is being treated there. Preliminary investigation into the cause of the fire showed that the batteries had been removed from both fire alarms in the apartment. While many of the alarms in the apartment complex had been checked last week, the alarms in the fire-damaged dwelling had been checked in August 2001 - well within the requirements of Oregon landlord-tennant law, according to David Lively, president of Capital Property Management which manages the complex. "It's a tragedy and we certainly feel terrible for the death of that child," Lively said. "It's the residents' responsibility to check the alarms on a regular basis, and we recommend they check them every 30 days." "Obviously we can't live with people and see what they're doing all the time," Lively added. "If the batteries were in there, they would have known about the fire earlier." Ashland Fire and Rescue, the Oregon State Police, the Ashland Police Department and the State Fire Marshall's office are coordinating to conduct the fire investigation, Woodley said. "There is a huge volume of data being collected because of the fatality involved," Woodley said. "Fatal fires are more thoroughly investigated." Once the fire investigation is complete - which could take as long as two weeks - the Ashland Police Department will take the case to the Jackson County District Attorney to determine if a criminal investigation is called for. The reason behind removal of the fire alarm batteries would be of interest if additional investigation occurs, according to Ashland Police Chief Scott Fleuter. "Those questions have been asked," Fleuter said. Fatal fires have been extremely rare in Ashland, according to Woodley. "Ashland really has been spared this type of a situation, with very few over the years," he said. "But we consider any to be too many." The first on record is an 11-year-old girl who died on the Fourth of July, 1919, when she was trapped in a burning building in the railroad district. Others include a man who died in a mobile home on Idaho Street in the early 1980s, and a blind man in another mobile home in a trailer park in 1991. "Yesterday was my 13th fatality in 30 years, and it still has the same impact on me and the staff," Woodley said. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing