The following is an excerpt from an item in today's Daily News:

Woman dies in Darby fire on her  birthday
By STEPHANIE FARR, Philadelphia Daily News
 
Twenty-six years to the day after she came into this  world, Dominique 
Gibson left it, when she died yesterday – on her birthday –  in a house fire in 
Darby Borough.
 
Although her home had heat, Police Chief Robert  Smythe said investigators 
believe Gibson was using her stove as a supplemental  heat source, and that 
is what started the blaze.
 
"That's something people do sometimes," he said.  "It's a very dangerous 
habit they have, but they do it."
 
It took firefighters several minutes to battle back  the blaze enough to 
reach Gibson's second-floor apartment. She was found in a  kitchen hallway. 
She was pronounced dead at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital at 4:20  a.m., Smythe 
said.

  
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This is "close (enough) to home" because Dominique -- a lovely young woman  
in every sense -- was the secretary at The Second Mile Center, our popular 
local  thrift shop. Her co-workers and managers are devastated, as you can  
imagine.
 
 
Beyond this, the article shows that you should not try to get extra  heat 
from anything not specifically designed for space heating, or not up to  
modern standards. Dominique was apparently trying to use her stove for this  
purpose. Kerosene heaters are also very dangerous, as are electric units with  
exposed heating coils. The safest devices, should you believe one is 
necessary,  are sealed oil-filled electric radiators with build-in temperature 
controls.  Sweaters and heavy blankets are probably better, considering that 
extreme cold  doesn’t occur too often in the Philadelphia area and doesn’t 
tend to last too  long when it comes.
 
The separate coverage in the Inquirer didn't suggest the cause of the fire  
but did note that she apparently died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Neither 
 article indicated whether the building or apartment had smoke or carbon 
monoxide  detectors. These are required in rental properties in Philadelphia. 
If you own  your own home, they're not required, but they're a wise 
precaution.  

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Alan Krigman
KRF Management, ICON/Information Concepts  Inc
211 S 45th St, Philadelphia PA 19104-2918
215-349-6500, fax  215-349-6502
krf...@aol.com or  al.krig...@krf.icodat.com

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