INDIANAPOLIS — The number of fires this winter is going up across the state, and some have been deadly.
Indiana State Fire Marshal Steve Jones said often the cause of these house fires are space heaters or some other alternative heating method like candles or stoves. That is why Jones said it's no surprise that there are more fire calls in the winter.
A fire Thursday morning at Woodbrook Apartments on the northwest side of Indianapolis sent a child to the hospital. Firefighters reported that the unit's smoke alarm didn't work. In that same complex, a building is still boarded up with debris scattered from a fire that happened in November, neighbors said.
No one was hurt in a warehouse fire Thursday on the city's east side. Nearly 100 firefighters responded to the two-alarm building fire.
However, earlier this week, a woman died and a man was critically hurt in an apartment near Dearborn and 27th streets. Firefighters said that unit did not have a working smoke alarm.
A woman's body was found after a home explosion in Dubois County, and five children didn't make it out alive in South Bend, where a home went up in flames.
"A lot of times, children can't self-evacuate," Jones said. "They depend on adults to get them out."
Jones said having a working smoke alarm could be the difference between life and death. It buys time for families to get out safely.
"They might have been a better chance if they had a working smoke alarm or used the space heater the right way," Jones said.
According to Jones, it is also important to practice fire drills at home, so everyone knows how to get out and where to go.