Teaching from tragedy

When Rob Schliebe sees images of flames on a television screen, he says he can feel the heat.

He’ll never forget the night he lost his four sons in a house fire. Derek, 8; Loren, 7; Steven, 4; and Justin, 2, died on Oct. 28, 1995, in a blaze firefighters believed was started by a taper candle on a bedside table.

The Spokane man is talking about that night now to help people avoid a similar tragedy.

“It’s not about me. It’s not necessarily about the boys,” Schliebe said. “It’s about having awareness of fire safety.”

Monday kicked off National Fire Prevention Week, which has its roots in the Great Chicago Fire. The Oct. 8, 1871, blaze killed more than 300 people, left 100,000 homeless and destroyed more than 17,000 structures.

This year’s national fire safety prevention message is: “Use Caution with Candles.”

“We don’t know if the candle was knocked over and started the table, then the curtains, on fire, or if it just caught the curtains on the fire,” Schliebe said, who was sleeping in the living room that night. “I heard my wife (Jill) screaming and ran into the bedroom to see the wall in flames.”

The couple’s bedroom was on the first floor of the home, 1327 N. Adams. Their four sons were in two upstairs rooms. The couple called 911 and tried to put the fire out themselves. Three minutes later, the fire exploded and dense smoke climbed upstairs, according to news reports. The couple lost track of the four young sons. They were forced to leap from a second-story window without them. Rob Schliebe broke his back in the fall.

Rob and Jill Schliebe are no longer married. Jill Schliebe lives in California.

“If something as little as talking about it can save someone’s life,” Schliebe said, “it’s worth it.”

Unattended candles can be deadly, destructive, or both, fire officials said.

Blazes caused by candles in the last 20 years rank third in Spokane for fire fatalities. The same types of fires have caused more than $500,000 in damages during the last two years in Spokane Valley.

Spokane and Spokane Valley firefighters will spend most of October going to elementary schools with miniature houses, known as fire safety houses, to teach third- and fourth-graders about fire hazards in the home. A picture of the four Schliebe boys is posted inside the Spokane Fire Department’s fire safety house.

Spokane Valley firefighters will also be running a junior fire marshal program. The kids watch a video, take home a fire safety checklist, make a fire escape plan and correct fire hazards with parents, Fire Marshal Kevin Miller said. When they bring the paperwork back the next week, they get their junior fire marshal’s badge.

Candles weren’t allowed in Schliebe’s home for nearly seven years after the fire occurred, he said.

“We never even gave fire safety a second thought before this happened,” Schliebe said. “If we’d had had a plan to get out of the house, that would have helped. But we can sit here and say ‘what if’ all day long. I can’t do that. Not that I don’t question it all the time, because I do. To this day I still do it.”

Schliebe has instead turned his attention to fire safety. He can recite tips off the top of his head like a veteran firefighter.

“Be aware of your surroundings. Have a plan, an escape route. Check your smoke detectors twice a year like you’re supposed to. It doesn’t take but five seconds to push a button on a smoke detector. It’s just a hop, skip and a jump to the store to buy a battery,” he said. “Pay attention to simple things like if a fire is contained in a room, close the door. If we had closed our door, it would have made a world of difference.”

The 39-year-old practices his advice. He has multiple smoke detectors in his home. He installed exit windows in his basement so there are at least two ways out of every room in his single-level home. He allows very few candles in his home. If they are lighted, they are far away from items that could catch fire.”I don’t mean to make it sound like it’s easy, because it hasn’t been. You don’t get over it,” Schliebe said. “If people listen to those little tips it can mean the difference between losing a small corner of a house or losing what I lost.”