That poor family! What an unimaginable horror. Condolences to the relatives of all who perished in the fire. This is just as sad as the accident with all the kids at Mosquito creek. What is going on with these avoidable tragedies??

Family No More:-
It is extremely sad to read of cases such as this, which never should have happened. I extend my sympathy to the remaining family and friends. What a way to die. Because of the criminals running rampant in our country, we are forced to protect ourselves, as the Protective Services are unable to cope. We lock our doors, stay in at nights and literally remain prisoners in our own home. This family's burglar-proofing was not a safety net for them, but rather a prison gate, keeping then inside to be burned to death. What a lovely family: They were cheated of life. For years this gov't denied that crime was a problem in our country. Had they taken steps at the beginning of their previous term in office to harness the crime-wave then, we would not be where we are today, living in a 'state of emergency'. Now we see one programme after another:- purchases of blimp, radar, Coast Guard vessels; hiring of consultants one after another, etc. and nothing appears to work. Now we are looking at the purchase of 'big flying toys' and creation of Min. of Justice, with another promise of fighting crime. But what this gov't fails to realise is that we must start at the bottom and work our way up in order to bring crime to its knees in this country: Not from the clouds above - looking down! Unfortunately, we have no confidence in any of the plans being presented on a silver platter. This family tried to do what their gov't failed to do, that is protect themselves. How many more of our citizens are we going to see departing this earth because of the effects of crime. What a country we live in, will we ever be able to live in safety and security in this lifetime?

FIRE ALARMS NEEDED FOR ALL HOMES

May God give he surving family the strength to persevere at this time of such great loss. May those beautiful, innocent children sing with the angels in heaven.

I think that the necessity for fire alarms in all homes should be stressed. They don't cost too much but are a very effective tool in home safety, just as essential as the burglar proofing. They have saved many, many lives.

Sadness. My heart goes out to the relatives and other remaining family members. Please people use common sense when installing these burglar proof windows and doors. Make sure it is possible to exit in case of a fire. These sort of burglar proof encasement should be banned. We have them here in the States as well and the same dottishness applies where people just bar up their homes without thinking of exits and people die. Its the same with those locks for doors that uses a key both outside and inside the house. If you have to buy such a silly and dangerous contraption make sure to hang an extra key right next to the door. And,yes,smoke alarms.

While its easy to blame the govt for everything, people have to take responsibility for their own actions. The fact that there is crime isnt the govt fault. but the fact that there isn't a community awareness of the dangers of these burglarproof windows and doors and some sort of legal standard imposed on their installation (every other barred window must have an open mechanism, barred doors must be able to be open from the interior without the need for a key,etc)and also the necessity of smoke alarms should fall on the local govt shoulders. But,again,govt action or not, people need to apply commonsense and also need to take responsibility for their actions. Don S. NY