BREVARD COUNTY, Florida — While many Brevard County residents enjoyed the longest day of the year on the beach of Florida’s Space Coast, the 2012 Summer Solstice brought a long day for Brevard County Fire Rescue Crews (BCFR). Four different homes caught fire in Brevard County on Thursday, June 21, 2012.
On June 21, 2012, BCFR received 231 service calls. Of those, there were:
· 3 working structure fires
· 2 reported structure fires (one cooking, one mechanical with no fire)
· 2 mutual aid responses for possible structure fire
· 3 responses for fire alarm activations (all were false/faulty alarms)
· 17 vehicle accidents (county-wide response)
· 1 fuel spill, approximately 75 gallons from a semi on I-95
The remaining calls were either service calls with no transport or various medical responses that may or may not have required transport to a local hospital.
For viewers who like to look for strange events that occur in conjunction with astronomical events, nothing could be an odder event on the 2012 Summer Solstice than two homes next to each other separately catching fire on the same day.
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| First Aster Drive Fire in Cocoa |
Brevard County Fire Rescue crews were dispatched around 6:00 am Thursday morning to 6970 Aster Drive in Cocoa to a fire believed to be caused by an electrical malfunction which ended up leaving three adults and two children homeless, as well as killing the family dog.
The second house fire occurred on Merritt Island on the 1300 block of Fiddler Avenue. BCFR, Cape Canaveral Fire Department, and Merritt Island Volunteer Rescue all responded around 11:40 am to a fire in the living room of the home. The residence was unoccupied at the time and a dog was rescued from the home.
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| Second Aster Drive Fire in Cocoa |
The third fire occurred at 6964 Aster Drive in Cocoa around 1:30 pm, right next door to yesterday morning’s house fire although the two fires are believed to be unrelated. The resident went next door to the home that had caught on fire that morning to check on the residents when he turned around to see his own home in flames.
The fourth fire on Thursday, June 21, 2012 occurred around 8:40 pm off U.S.1 and Rosa Jones Boulevard at 416 G Street in Cocoa. One unit of the duplex caught fire and was unoccupied at the time, and the other duplex unit was evacuated. Residences from both units were put up overnight.
“One big issue that we found with our structure fires yesterday is that none of the homes with a working structure fire had a functioning smoke alarm installed,” BCFR spokesperson Lt. Jeffrey Taylor said. “Fire prevention and fire crews were out in the area around Aster Drive in Cocoa today to pass out, install, and maintain (check operation, change batteries, etc.) smoke alarms for the residents in that area.”
In addition, BCFR has a program to assist those in need with obtaining a smoke alarm at no cost. BCFR will also assist those in need with checking the functionality of smoke alarms that are installed in their homes (to include battery change outs). To take advantage of those services, residents in unincorporated Brevard County or cities that contract fire services with BCFR can contact Fire Prevention at 321-633-2056. Residents who live within city limits providing their own fire service must contact their local fire department.
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