“Fire destroys home for family of 7” and “Reserve fire displaces family of 8; donation effort underway” are two recent headlines to appear in L’OBSERVATEUR and lobservateur.com.

They highlight a scary trend of home fires that seem to be striking the Reserve community, with no end in sight.

Thankfully, our community has avoided a blaze-related fatality but those fortunate results won’t continue if the pace of local home fires doesn’t decrease.

The St. John the Baptist Parish Office of Fire Services was at it again last week, responding to an RV fire at 3451 Airline Highway in Reserve.

Chief of Operations Cain Dufrene said a couple living in the RV attempted to transfer from electric to natural propane, which caused a fire on the stove.

“Nothing big, the guys got it out relatively quickly,” Dufrene said. “She must have had a little leak that caused a little fire.”

Authorities were alerted to the blaze at 2:57 p.m. Feb. 3 and were in control of the incident within 22 minutes, according to Dufrene.

Neither the occupants nor firefighters reported any injuries, Dufrene said, adding he was unsure of the RV’s total damage.

“(Fire reports) are up a little bit more than normal; I don’t know if that is attributable to the extreme winter we are having,” Dufrene said. “We haven’t had one of these winters in a while. The fires are happening in the older homes. It takes a little bit more to heat those homes.”

The uptick in fires does not seem to be impacting LaPlace or the West Bank, as authorities note most major responses are taking place in Reserve.

“Not all of them have been heating fires,” Dufrene said. “Most of them have been cooking fires or electrical fires. The heating fires haven’t been much; it’s just coincidence that they are happening during the coldest time of the year.”

Securing and utilizing home smoke alarms remains local residents’ chief asset in escaping a fire.

St. John Parish residents are encouraged to call the fire department; so local professionals can check on existing alarms or install new ones free of charge.

The number to dial is 985-359-0440.

“We can schedule to come at (the residents’) convenience to install free smoke detectors or check the ones they have,” Dufrene said.

The results are worse in other parts of the state.

On Jan. 22, the Louisiana State Fire Marshal — alarmed that three people died and two people were critically injured during a few-day stretch in Jefferson, Morehouse, St. Landry and Webster parishes — sent out a plea for help, calling it a “plague” impacting the state.

Investigators determined that in three of the four fires, the homes had no working smoke alarms.

“The State Fire Marshal’s Office urges citizens to ensure that their homes are properly equipped with working smoke alarms,” the release read.

State officials said 17 lives were lost and six people were critically injured in residential structure fires during the first 22 days of 2018.

It’s a trend that must end.

Stephen Hemelt is publisher and editor of L’OBSERVATEUR. He can be reached at 985-652-9545 or stephen.hemelt@lobservateur.com.