Fire safety inspections lagged at Texas shelter where blaze killed 5
Investigators probing a fatal fire at a Paris, Texas homeless shelter have been unable to find evidence it was inspected for fire safety in recent years, according to local officials.
While still early in the investigation into the Jan. 5 fire that ripped through the aging building, killing five, records indicate it was last inspected in 2004, fire chief Ronnie Grooms told The Associated Press.
Homeless shelters in Texas aren’t licensed by the state, so regular fire inspections are not required. Grooms said his small department, which has only two inspectors, focuses mostly on state-licensed facilities where inspections are mandated.
“Sometimes things fall through the cracks,” he said. “That’s no excuse, really. That’s just the way it is.”
The five victims were among 28 men sleeping in cubicles in the warehouse-like building, which has long served as both a homeless shelter and a collection point for donated clothes and other items.
Investigators have determined the shelter had no sprinkler system, fire alarms or smoke detectors, Grooms said.
The facility is owned and operated by a local nonprofit group, Seed Sowers Christians in Action. The group’s founder, Don Walker, declined comment on issues relating to building codes or inspections.
“All I know is I tried to take care of people,” he said.
The Paris fire is the latest of at least a dozen at homeless shelters across the U.S. in the last two years, according to news accounts.
Conditions at homeless shelters have improved dramatically over the last 20 years, but some remain inadequate for housing people overnight, said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. Because city ordinances are the only form of oversight for most shelters, it’s critical that they be inspected regularly, he said. (Associated Press)
Outbreak of rare disease hits Winnipeg homeless
An outbreak of potentially deadly flesh-eating disease erupted among Winnipeg’s homeless last year, infecting 12 people with an invasive bacterium that spreads rapidly and causes severe pain and disfiguration.
Winnipeg health officials did not publicly disclose that a cluster of cases was reported in the city between April and October 2008 until questioned by the Winnipeg Free Press this month.
Dr. Pierre Plourde, a Winnipeg medical officer of health, said inner-city shelters were alerted about the spike in cases and told to watch for anyone with wounds or sore throats who might be at an increased risk of developing the infection.
He said there were four or five strains of flesh-eating disease that were reported and there was no evidence that anyone infected transmitted the disease person.
Nine of the 12 people had recently suffered major injuries, including one person who was severely burned in a fire. Plourde said none of those infected died of flesh-eating disease.
Manitoba province’s chief medical examiner Dr. Thambirajah Balachandra confirmed that a total of five people died from flesh-eating disease in 2008, including one death in August, October and November — the same time the outbreak occurred in downtown Winnipeg.
Plourde said the bacteria can infect anyone, but people who have weakened immune systems, open wounds, or who have recently undergone surgery are more at risk.
He said the city’s homeless population tends to delay seeking medical treatment until they’re in dire need, and that some patients had severe tissue damage and needed immediate surgery.
Plourde could not confirm how many patients might have had limbs amputated.
Flesh-eating disease is caused by a bacterium that quickly destroys tissue and muscles. It is the same bacterium that causes strep throat.
In flesh-eating disease, it can cause death in as little as 12 to 24 hours, but can be treated with heavy antibiotics and surgery to remove the disease-ridden tissue. Often, afflicted limbs are amputated to save someone’s life. (Winnipeg Free Press)
Judge orders trial in slaying of two Calif. men
A California judge ordered two men to trial on charges they killed a homeless man during a mugging in 2007.
Bobby Dee Dozier, 23, and Marlon Reese, 26, are candidates for capital punishment in the Aug. 25, 2007, death of 42-year-old Oscar Alejandre because prosecutors allege that the killing occurred during a robbery.
Alejandre was shot to death near a homeless camp in North Richmond, Calif. Prosecutors say the two defendants had been robbing people there and that Alejandre was shot in the back as he was running from the pair. Both defendants are alleged to have fired shots. (Contra Costa Times)
