UNSAFE NURSING HOMES

Fire risks threaten assisted living

By Peter Eisler

The result: about one fatal fire a month, on average, during the past five years, many at facilities that lack sprinklers, smoke alarms or other fire safeguards, a USA TODAY investigation shows.

The fire safety lapses have grave implications for more than a million elderly and disabled Americans who rely on assisted-living facilities. Those facilities offer 24-hour supervision and help tend to residents' needs, but they do not provide the round-the-clock medical services available at nursing homes.

"It's outrageous that there would be that many fatal fires in environments that are intended to protect the elderly," says Scott Severns, past president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, an association of lawyers serving the aged and disabled.

Nationwide, more than 36,000 licensed facilities are considered "assisted living," a 2004 study by the Department of Health and Human Services shows. That includes everything from converted homes serving a handful of residents to supervised apartment complexes. There are thousands more unlicensed facilities; no one knows precisely how many.

In October, USA TODAY reported that almost half of the nation's 16,000 nursing homes violate federal fire safety standards each year, usually with no penalty. Assisted-living facilities face no such federal rules. That leaves state and local authorities to oversee fire safety.

USA TODAY reviewed fire standards and regulations in 50 states and analyzed federal data and news accounts for thousands of assisted living fires since 1999. It also surveyed state fire officials. Key findings:

• About two fires a day are reported at assisted-living facilities; they have twice as many fatal fires each year — on average, about 12 — as nursing homes, and dozens more that result in serious injuries.

• Four states — Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana and Hawaii — set no fire safety standards for the industry. Only six require sprinklers in all facilities. And fewer than half the states, 21, require that all facilities have smoke alarms that alert authorities.

• Fire and building inspectors never visit thousands of smaller assisted-living facilities that are unlicensed or not covered by state regulations.

• About 40% of state fire marshals say their states' rules for assisted living are weak or poorly enforced.

David Kyllo of the National Center for Assisted Living, an industry group, says better standards are needed in some states and would give consumers more confidence in licensed facilities. "There's some catch-up to be done as far as the rules and ... safety requirements," he says.