A Hard Lesson

The house fire in August 2022 that killed two young women in Noyac is a terrible tragedy for everyone involved — there’s no ignoring that, along with the lives lost, so many lives were forever changed that awful night.

If there is anything to take away from the tragedy, it is the lesson that while code enforcement is often derided as “Big Government” overreaching, and mandatory inspections and permits are considered mere bureaucratic harassment, those rules and that oversight save lives. Every single year. Uncounted lives, because they were protected by safe environments.

Absolutely nobody would ever want to be connected to, let alone blamed for, the kind of horrific fire that swept through the rental property and destroyed a family. In a region built on rental transactions, it’s essential for property owners to pay attention to the lessons on display, especially the ones that can be life-changing.

Consider the town’s involvement in your rental property a blessing. It won’t guarantee a disaster won’t happen, but it goes a very long way toward curtailing the impact one might have. Warning systems like smoke detectors, carbon monoxide monitors and pool alarms are a last line of defense to prevent catastrophe.

The Wiener family of Maryland paid a terrible price that can’t be mitigated. But if their story prompts property owners to be a little more diligent in making sure their homes are as safe as possible, at least their suffering won’t be in vain.