Beautiful words.. my friend!

Check the batteries in your smoke detectors right now!

Not sure if the batteries would have helped the system is hard wired through the electric in the home, It makes me wonder since I have that system if I should get a few battery operated smoke detectors, Any feed back welcome....

I'm a former Volunteer Firefighter and I smell a rat. As the fire chief said, "Everything's being explored...whether it's suspicious or not is still being investigated."

As I read it, the detectors were hard-wired together and connected to an off-site alarm company which would be accomplished through an alarm panel in the house. The alarm company said that they didn't receive an alarm.

These systems transmit alarms over phone or cable TV lines. Some use cellphones as either primary or as a backup. What this says to me is that the phone connection didn't work and that would be highly suspicious. It's also highly suspicious that the electricity would fail before the alarms sounded.

Every alarm system I know of has a battery back-up in case there is a power outage. If a detector sends a signal to the alarm panel in the house, the battery supplies adequate power to both sound the alarm in the house and to transmit the call to the monitoring service. Otherwise it would be a useless system.

The fact that the local fire department had to request mutual aid from several different towns, that it took 3 hours to extinguish the fire, the house was completely destroyed and all of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition is also very suspicious. House fires rarely burn as rapidly and thoroughly as this house did.

If I was a twenty year old son, I wouldn't have left without making certain the others got out, all the more so if my father went back inside; I'd go with him. It's telling that the son only suffered smoke inhalation but wasn't burned and that he escaped through the garage. Anyone would have gone out the front door which is almost always quite close to the stairs. Was there fire at the door that forced him to go out through the garage? How would that happen? Why didn't he go out the back door?

The article says that the father helped the son out and then went back inside, but that's not how the son's escape is actually described. Why didn't the father help his wife and younger daughters out initially? I would think that a 20 year old son would be capable of getting out on his on. Was the father sleeping in a different room than his wife, which isn't unheard of but is also not typical? If they were in the same room all he'd have had to do is wake her up and tell her to get out.

Also intriguing is the fact that the funeral plans have already been announced. Ordinarily, in the case of tragedies like this, it takes days, sometimes weeks to make those plans, especially if there is only one survivor and the parents have died.

There is more to this story.

It's best to have a combination of wired and battery operated smoke detectors, or electric ones with battery backup (and make sure to replace the batteries!). Also, it's important to realize there are two different types of smoke detectors - ionization, which responds more quickly to fires with flames, and photoelectric, which respond more quickly to smoldering fires. I have a dual model in my laundry area, as dryer fire are a common occurrence and those are often smoldering. Fires that start in the wiring of the house are also usually smoldering, and may cause electric detectors to not work.

MarilynMD: As I explained above, the hard-wired systems are relatively fool-proof. I have a good friend who has been a fire chief for 30 years and he says that the hard-wired systems are the way to go. They are required in commercial buildings, schools, hospitals, etc. and he had them installed in all of his fire stations.

If you're concerned though, you ought to just buy some battery operated detectors for reassurance. They are cheap, in some states they can only be sold with a ten year lifetime battery, some are available with built-in escape lights and I think they're also available with strobe lights. Lights are crucial in a smoke-filled building.

I had a system installed in a store I owned and specified that the fire detectors could be triggered by either smoke or heat. Very few systems have dual sensor detectors and yours probably doesn't. You might want to ask your alarm company about that and also ask them about adding a Carbon Monoxide detector, especially if you have an attached garage.

Another safety measure, which is also cheap, is to have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and, for overkill, one near each exit, one on each floor and one in the garage. The one in the kitchen really is a must.

However, the best advice of all is to get everyone out of the house immediately, and only then call 911. NEVER go back into a burning or smoky building, and if there is a fire more intense than a stove or trash can fire don't try to put it out; get out and leave the firefighting for the pros.

The best place to get the very best advice is from your fire department, if it's a full-time, paid professional department. If it's a volunteer dept. you might be better off going to a paid dept. in another town or city. Trust them, not your alarm company, to look out for your best interests.

There are a lot of written resources about all aspects of home fire safety. You can find them on-line, at the library, from the fire department and your insurance company. Be safe, not sorry.

First off Hoodie... The events of the sons survival are that the father yelled to the son that the house was on fire and the boy crawled his way downstairs and out the garage while the father went to help the mother and daughters. The Carmel Fire department was called at 1:53 AM, according to the fire chief by the time the fire department arrived the house was fully engulfed and the building started collapsing within 10 minutes of the departments arrival. Also several local reports are saying that it is possible because newer construction of houses use lighter weight materials that those materials helped the fire burn more rapidly. But who knows? Bottom line this family and community are devasted by this tragedy. Tom Jr. is lucky to have his grandparents and Aunt and Uncles there for him now.

Please don't go speculating on things you do not know about. This community is reeling from this tragedy as it is, we certainly do not need people speculating on some wild conspiracy theory....As Mrs ODell said this community will wrap it's arms around this boy and his family.

This Police Man was a real hero. He charged into the blaze to save his family without thinking of his own life, and lost it trying to rescue them. Porkies, stand up and take note. This is the man you should all aspire to be like.

sadly, I could not agree more.

Shame on you and anyone else for casting blame on this young man. There is absolutely NOTHING in the article which would put that kind of conclusion in place. Yes, he got out. His father just happened to get him out first. Maybe there was less smoke in his room, maybe he's a light sleeper, maybe God has a plan for him, who knows. To make an accusation based on his being alive is just cruel.

He will have a hard enough time surviving this without the likes of your kind. He's an orphan without any siblings to lean on.

I pray for him, any family he may have and any friends of this family.

Dirp,

I hope you are right, but there are just too many things in this story that dont seem right. Perhaps you are right to say not to jump on the son, but further investigation is most certainly warranted. Victims Burned beyond recognition, building burning that quickly and that hotly, just seems a little strange. I will give you that judgement on that young man may be premature and unfortunately cruel (my guess is tho that he is not reading this blog), but i guarantee you that the cops and firefighters already have questions cause if I do, I KNOW they do.

Maybe the kid had a meth lab that caught on fire.

HOW DARE you all speculate.. This boy and his family are having enough grief to deal with to add idiotic conspiracy theories to this tragedy. I don't know of anyone in this town that is speculating that Tommy had anything to do with this tradegy. Something went off because the father awoke at nearly 2 AM to get to his son and then try to go to his wife and daughters. 911 was called by a neighbor at 1:53 AM and by 2 AM when the trucks got there it was fully engulfed.... I surmise that this is an electrical fire.... and as I'm sure some can tell you that type of fire can burn in the walls and through the wiring for hours (hense hard wired fire dectectors wouldn't respond without power) before flashing over to an all out inferno.... The entire family was on the second floor, the father woke Tommy Jr. who crawled down the stairs and out the garage while the father went back for the mother and girls. If as Jeanette wants to blather about that the son had a meth lab why would he have it upstairs? And reports are that the fire started in the living room.

The police here in Carmel are saying that the Fire Dog found NO ACCELERANT....

http://www.lohud.com/article/20120502/NEWS04/305020105/Carmel-fire-police-dog-found-no-accelerant-source-says?odyssey=mod|defcon|text|Frontpage

READ NEWS before you speculate....

wow, you guys ned to get a life. ou just have to find something wrong with everything you read about. god help if the young man or any of his friends/family read your crazy conclusions or the quick blame you have put on him. Almost makes me wish a similar trajedy would happen to you so we could all secodn guess and blame you or your son or daughter who might have survived. Get a life and quit judging others without all the facts.

Esquire.... Some people have me wondering about the viability of our species... IT is absolutely unconscionable to be on here sensationalizing such a tragedy... Of course the media doesn't run without sensationalizm, which is a sad state of our society....

@bnbreilly: I hope I'm wrong about my suspicions, and you're absolutely correct that it's speculation on my part. I sincerely apologize for any hurt or insult; none were intended.

That said however, I read your link and you neglected to mention the title of the article: "Fatal Fire Being Investigated as Possible Crime." The fact that no accelerants were detected by a dog isn't conclusive and as the article said (in your link) further tests are necessary to determine what did or didn't happen.

The article you linked to had a lot of good information on engineered wood products but I still question how a house could be so fully involved when the F.D. were apparently on scene in 7 minutes and within another 10 minutes the house had begun to collapse. It's probably happened before but it's very unusual.

bnbreilly, This happens in every article about anything. If it's a murder everyone always starts speculating and volunteering wild theories or if someone is in custody would have them executed before a trial if they had their way. This is why I don't think the majority of people are intelligent enough to sit on a jury and listen to testimony before they proclaim guilt. They apparently think police and the fire department need their help or they will take things at face value and not investigate. Truly amazing. What a terrible loss for their family and friends, I can't even imagine that kind of loss at one time.

Well, let's see. It is a potential criminal act, but pointing the finger at the boy is premature. The dad was the chief of police - I'm sure he had enemies. I'm friends with two different chiefs, and they both have people who would rather see them dead.

My condolences to everyone hurting from this tragedy. I hope you have answers and healing soon.

Realistic Woman.... It is being said that the house which was only about 11 years old was made out of Engineered wood. While much cheaper, it is supposedly just as strong as regular lumber. However it is made with glues and adheisives therefore more flammable in some builders minds.... The builder of this developement used engineered lumber...

As for these people on here who want to think the worst of every tragedy that happens... I took wish Karma would strike them.... While I'm sure the police and investigators are going to do their jobs, I highly doubt that this is going to be anything more then a horrible tragedy....