Family a living example of need for smoke detectors

On the last Sunday in September Frank Sornson and his family were visiting neighbors across the street from their burnt house on Patterson Avenue in North Aurora when they noticed smoke coming from the west and blowing toward them.

Sornson admitted that he is paranoid about fires since a garage fire destroyed his home in September and he ran across the field to see what was happening near Tanner Trails.

"I was noticing the direction of the wind and I was concerned that other houses would be in danger," he remembered.

Sornson and his wife Kelly and boys Logan and Jacob have been in temporary housing in Winfield since the fire and moved into a rental house near Jewel Middle School recently.

"We stayed in a hotel the first night after the fire and we had to evacuate out of the third floor because a fire alarm went off," he said. "The first thing I did at the second place was look for the fire exits."

The Sornsons are living reminders of the benefits of smoke detectors and serve as a real-life example during National Fire Prevention Week which goes until Saturday.

North Aurora Fire Department Bureau Chief Todd Zies said the national topic for the week is "Practice Your Escape Plan."

"Most people who have a plan never practice it," Zies said. "Sixty-six percent of people have an escape plan and 35 percent have practiced it. That means that over half of Americans don't have a usable escape plan."

Sornson admitted that his family didn't have a plan of escape.

"Thinking back, you don't think it will happen to you, so you don't prepare for it," Sornson said. "It's definitely part of our future plan."

Zies said that most people think they have more time to escape than they really do.

Sornson said that in his case the 911 call went through at 2:55 a.m. and after the fire they noticed that the clock in their younger son's room was melted at 3:03 a.m.

As part of fire prevention week, the North Aurora Fire Department firefighters will visit every grade school and preschool to preach making and practicing an escape route.

In recent years the NAFD checked every house in North Aurora that wasn't recently built and made sure that all the residences had smoke alarms. "We installed 3,000 smoke alarms. I believe everyone has one," he said.

"Nationally, 96 percent of homes have smoke alarms but 19 percent of them don't work," Zies said. He said that so many people take the batteries out and don't replace them.

"It's so important to get the batteries changed twice a year and even consider putting smoke alarms in your garage, basement and the attic," Zies said.

Zies said that any family who wants a tour of the fire house can call first and plan a trip to show the kids what the firefighters do. He also said that all the trips to the school get the kids interested in practicing a fire escape.

"Once the kids get interested, they get the parents interested practicing an escape route," he said.

Zies said that the cause of the Sornson fire and the soybean field fire are still under investigation but are not deemed suspicious.

"Even if we have rainy weather it's always possible to have a brush fire," Zies said. "It's really dry right now so everyone has to be careful about flicking cigarettes out windows."

Zies said that residents also have to obey the ordinances against burning leaves and brush and to be sure that smoke from fire pits is not disturbing neighbors and the fire pits are put out properly.

Frank Sornson said it will take eight or more months to rebuild his house but they plan to stay right where they are.

"What our neighbors have done for us is amazing to me. We are kind of quiet neighbors and didn't know many people but after everything that's happened to us we think that this is the perfect place to be," he said. "Everyone is so nice and so giving."

Sornson said it has been hard to thank all the people who have helped his family. His brother is a Web site designer and he is working on a Web site for the family to post pictures of the fire and the reconstruction and give updates about the family.

After Sornson is finished working with the insurance investigators on inventorying the garage contents, he'll be ready to get on to his next concern -- finding a new job. He was laid off just two weeks before the fire.