After a string of fire deaths in the area, state and local officials are placing renewed emphasis on the importance of smoke alarms.

Most recently, a fire tore through a mobile home in Eros on Wednesday night, killing 20-year-old Christopher Quinlan and his infant son Ryan Quinlan while the father was giving his son a bath.

The mobile home had a smoke detector, but it was not working.

Greg Thompson, Ouachita Parish fire prevention officer, said non-working smoke detectors have been too common factors in the spate of fatal fires.

"We've had nine fatalities in Ruston, Monroe and Ouachita Parish in the last three and a half months," Thompson said. "In the last two weeks, the state has had 15 deaths. It's unusual to Louisiana, and a high rate when you compare its 4.5 million people to the U.S. population."

Thompson said the parish fire department will be pushing for residents to make sure they have smoke detectors and that they are in working order. "We've already made a push once during October," Thompson said. "All these deaths come with no working smoke detectors. It would have made a difference. It's senseless, and it's extremely preventable."

State Fire Marshal Butch Browning, who will speak in Monroe on Thursday, called the deaths a "tremendous loss" and encouraged citizens to donate smoke detectors to their local fire departments.

In 2005 — the most recent year in which statistics are available — Louisiana had a rate of 28.3 fire deaths per million population, averaging 16 more deaths per million than the national average, according to United States Fire Administration data.

Only the District of Columbia, Arkansas and Oklahoma had higher rates during that period.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, fire problems vary from region to region because of climate, poverty, education, demographics and other factors.

Exposing an invisible killer: The dangers of carbon monoxide
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) urge families to inspect, protect and detect to safeguard loved ones from the “Silent Killer”

Students from the Columbia Secondary School in NYC Joined UL’s Gus Schaefer, FDNY Chief Sal Cassano and NFPA President James Shannon at the press conference to kick off CO Awareness Week.

UL’s Gus Schaefer, FDNY Chief Sal Cassano and NFPA President James Shannon join Heather Caldwell from Kidde at the press event to kick off CO Awareness Week. According to NFPA research, fire departments respond to more than 60,000 CO incidents each year.

Bitter cold weather can bring more than just frosty mornings and runny noses. Along with the winter chill come the dangers of deadly carbon monoxide (CO), whose odorless reach extends into household living spaces as more families turn to alternative methods - such as a fireplace, wood stove or portable heater - to heat their homes and save a few dollars. A new survey^*released by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), an independent product safety testing organization, revealed that while many Americans claim they have some familiarity with the dangers of CO, many others admit their knowledge is shallow, a red flag considering CO is a significant problem in the U.S., sending more than 15,000 people to the emergency room each year (according to a 2008 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). The survey also revealed only half of Americans actually have a working CO alarm installed in their home and a whopping seventy-seven percent of American seniors believe CO can be easily detected by human senses.

Known as the “Silent Killer”, CO is produced by incomplete burning of fuel, such as propane, kerosene, gasoline, oil, natural gas, wood and charcoal. A CO leak can be attributed to many common household sources including malfunctioning gas-fired appliances, space heaters, chimney flues and portable generators.

Because you cannot see it, smell it or taste it, you or your loved ones could be exposed to CO without even knowing it. The symptoms – headaches, fatigue, nausea, dizziness and shortness of breath – are often mistaken for the flu.