OUR VIEW: Take safety precautions to protect against the unthinkable
Mitchell has had more than its share of tragedy in recent weeks.
Mitchell has had more than its share of tragedy in recent weeks.
In March, a 9-year-old girl died in a traffic collision caused by a man who was allegedly drunk and fleeing from police. Last Saturday, a 3-year-old boy died from smoke inhalation suffered the previous night during a house fire. And Tuesday, another house was badly damaged by fire, though thankfully nobody was injured.
Certainly, there was a strong strain of unpredictability running through all of these events. Yet we also know of some precautions that apparently weren’t taken.
In the fatal traffic collision, not only was the driver who was at fault allegedly drunk and fleeing authorities, but investigators have said nobody in either vehicle was wearing a seat belt.
In the fatal fire, investigators said there were no smoke detectors in the house, and the fire’s origin was traced to the area around the home’s clothes washer and dryer.
In Tuesday’s house fire, as in last Friday’s, the origin was apparently the laundry area.
Officially, we don’t know for sure if the accused man in the crash was actually drunk and fleeing police, if seat belts were worn in the crash, if smoke detectors were in place at the scene of last Friday’s fire, or if laundry equipment was properly installed and maintained at either fire scene. We only know what authorities have told us, and we don’t mean to judge anyone, especially not those who’ve been victimized.
But we do encourage everyone to learn what they can from these incidents.
If our news coverage of these events has reminded readers to buckle up, install smoke alarms, check smoke alarm batteries, clean out their lint traps and replace flimsy plastic lint venting with the rigid and flexible kind, that’s a good thing. That’s part of the reason we file reports about tragic accidents.
Though we can’t prevent all bad things from happening, we should all do what we can to end this sad streak of tragic occurrences.
Tags: opinion, updates, editorials
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