LOCKS SHOULD BE EASILY OPENED, OFFICIALS SAY

Residential locks should be effective, but easily opened.

That's the message officials were touting this week after a fire contained to a bedroom proved fatal for a Cape Girardeau woman.

Rosemary Carley, 53, of 1113 Walnut died from smoke inhalation while trying to unlock her back door, fire officials said.

She will be buried this afternoon in Lorimier Cemetery with her cocker spaniel, Lady, who died at her side on the kitchen floor.

Fire officials said the deaths might have been prevented had Carley been more easily able to open her back door and flee her burning home.

"She had keys to five padlocks," said Assistant Fire Chief Max Jauch. "She didn't have time to use them before it (the heat and smoke) got her."

Carley had two padlocks, a barrel bolt and a regular doorknob lock on her back door. When heat and smoke filled her small home and she rushed to the back door to get out, Jauch said she had very little time to unlock the locks and flee.

"There were just too many locks and too many keys," he said.

Carley also had similar locks on her front door and the windows were nailed shut.

Jauch said not only do the locks hamper efforts for residents to get out, but firefighters have a more difficult time trying to rid the home of hot gases and smoke with the windows nailed shut and the doors equipped with multiple locks.

Police Sgt. Carl Kinnison said padlocks should never be used in residential homes and dual cylinder locks, or deadbolt locks that take a key to open, shouldn't be used.

"Cylinder locks are good on doors that have windows," Kinnison said, "but everyone in the house needs to know where the key is and can get to it quickly."

Kinnison also said bars on windows might be effective at keeping burglars out but might be fatal when keeping residents inside their homes during a fire. Window locks should be easily opened and bars should be easily removed from inside or don't have them at all, he said.

Firefighters also said that Carley failed to have any smoke detectors in her home.

In light of the tragedy, fire officials handed out smoke detectors in Carley's neighborhood until they depleted their stock.