Cuts Imperil Free Smoke Alarms, Rubin Says

D.C. Fire Chief Dennis L. Rubin is protesting a City Council proposal to cut $200,000 in his budget that he had planned to spend on free smoke and carbon monoxide detectors for residents.

Rubin said he wants to maintain a program in which firefighters go door-to-door in neighborhoods hit by fires, particularly in low-income parts of the city, and offer to install the detectors. He started it after becoming chief in April 2007.

The city typically has 15 to 20 fire-related deaths annually, a number Rubin contends could be cut in half with proper installation and maintenance of detectors. He ran a similar effort when he was chief of the fire department in Atlanta and the number of fatalities dropped, he has said.

Rubin made the comments Tuesday after a fire in a home in the 1000 block of Quebec Place NW after which a body was found, burned beyond recognition. Officials said the victim appeared to be a woman; no identification has been made.

Fire officials found no working smoke detectors in the home, which was cluttered with old newspapers, boxes, bags of clothing and other items. Officials said the fire appeared to be accidental but the cause remains under investigation.

If the home had had a smoke detector, Rubin said, the victim "would have had a fighting chance." Firefighters passed out smoke detectors in the area in the hours after the fire.

The $200,000 cut is a very small percentage of about $60 million that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) has proposed cutting from the city's $9 billion budget, according to council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Mendelson said Rubin's comments were "political maneuvering" designed to publicly attack the council for slicing the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department budget.

In fact, Mendelson said, the department had objected this year to a council effort to designate money in the budget for the program. At that time, he said, Rubin had said the initiative relied mainly on private donations. Now Rubin fears private money will dry up.

"I read it as the department is politicizing a situation to take a potshot at the council for cutting their budget," Mendelson said. "It is very easy to politicize public safety. You have a fire, there wasn't a smoke detector, blame the council."

Since its inception in July 2007, the program has relied on city funds and private donations. Fire officials expressed concern that the souring economy might slow or halt those contributions.

The fire department also faces a freeze in spending for new apparatus, which Rubin said is difficult to bear, but "at least I can get by with what I have."

Rubin added that as winter approaches, the number of potentially life-threatening fires typically rises. This year, the city has recorded seven fire deaths. There were 12 in all of 2007.