Call it an after-the-fire chat, an opportunity to calm fears, educate others and reassure residents who may have been caught in the throes of a damaging blaze.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In the case of residents living at the SHAG Park Court apartments in Kent, the impromptu gathering Monday evening came in the aftermath of a deadly fire that claimed one of their own. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n An 80-year-old woman died from injuries suffered from a July 11 fire in her apartment unit at the large complex off 64th Avenue South. Leona Cordray died from thermal burns, according to the King County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The tragedy left some questions, prompting Kent Regional Fire Authority officials and SHAG representatives to huddle with residents in a crowded meeting room to discuss the fire department\u2019s response and procedures and offer ways seniors can better prepare and handle emergency situations. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not here to place blame,\u201d Capt. Kyle Ohashi, Kent Regional Fire Authority spokesman, immediately told the group. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n While it\u2019s rare to have a fatal fire when the building has a sprinkler system, firefighters reassured residents they are indeed safe. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe sprinkler system performed perfectly,\u201d Kent Fire Department RFA Battalion Chief Jeff Richardson told residents. \u201cThe sprinkler system saved the building and put out the fire.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Cordray was smoking a cigarette when it accidentally ignited her clothing and the furniture in her apartment, according to the Kent RFA. She also used a home oxygen generator or machine, which fed the fire and caused it to spread quickly, fire officials said. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n SHAG officials said the apartment complex sustained mostly smoke and water damage. Cost of the damage has not been determined. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Ohashi and fire officials spent most of the Monday meeting discussing general fire safety measures and how seniors can better prepare and respond to a fire or other emergency. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n If you can safely evacuate your apartment in less than five minutes, using a stairway, do so, Ohashi said. If not, remain in your apartment, with the door closed and windows open. The door, Ohashi said, will temporarily shield a fire before help arrives. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Ohashi said the Kent RFA plans to conduct a fire drill at the complex to help gauge residents\u2019 readiness and response. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The fire authority frequently fields after-the-fire conversations \u2013 a means to better engage residents and help victims it serves and protects.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Call it an after-the-fire chat, an opportunity to calm fears, educate others and reassure residents who may have been caught in the throes of a damaging blaze.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":23226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-23225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23225"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/220"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23225"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=23225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}