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.