The death on Madison Street last week of two women trapped on the second floor of a raging inferno during a three alarm fire that consumed the multifamily structure should be a reminder to us all about how fragile our safety is in our homes.
This Madison Street structure was eaten alive by the fire in a matter of minutes.
Wooden homes especially, and multi-families in particular, can go up in flames in an instant, trapping residents inside with circumstances such that firefighters arriving minutes later cannot penetrate the flames, the severe heat and the thick smoke.
This is exactly what happened last week when Everett firefighters arriving on the scene made heroic efforts to gain entry to the second floor.
According to firefighters, the fire was bad enough but that the rooms and hallways crowded with furniture and clothes and piles of bric a brac made maneuvering inside an impossibility.
Investigations are now underway to determine exactly what caused the fire and whether or not proper inspections of the property had been conducted when necessary and whether or not smoke detectors were ringing when firefighters arrived.
It is hard to know whether or not all of the above would have made a difference if everything was in order once this fire got underway.
What the event underscores is the necessity of remaining vigilant always to the dangers of fire in our homes.
The two innocents who died by fire last week in our city are the proof that we still need to do more to prevent such tragedies from happening again.