Back when I was a juvenile delinquent in Utah, I was intrigued by fire to the point that I was a young arsonist. I'm pretty sure, though, that I'm not the first young boy who had an interest in fire. Fortunately, everything that I did resulted only in property damage and no personal injuries or deaths.

Am I proud of my juvenile delinquency? Absolutely not. But it is what it is -- part of my past life -- and I accept the causes and the results, and I believe I learned from it once my wise old grandmother adopted me and provided me with love AND discipline. I also learned an appreciation for what fire can do.

As a home inspector, I often use stories from my past life and experiences to reinforce a point that can provide my Clients with a safer and more maintenance-free home.

One of those stories involves fire safety, and it begins back in 1990 in College Station, Texas. I had a business called "Just Your Type" that did word processing, editing, and résumés for students at Texas A&M University.

One of those students was a young man named Greg Van Buskirk. Greg and I had a mutually beneficial business relationship that turned into a personal friendship. However, in 1993, I disappeared off the face of the Earth for two weeks and reappeared in San Diego. Obviously I lost track of Greg.

Until February 6, 2008.

Many of the homes in our older neighborhoods here have security bars on the windows similar to those shown in the following picture:

When those bars were installed back in the mid-1970s, we didn't really understand that in the event of a fire, those security bars might prevent people from using the windows as an emergency exit from the burning building.

Modern security bars require a safety release in the bedroom that opens the window without requiring any tools to do so. The safety releases must be accessible -- i.e., not blocked by furniture -- and must be capable of being used by young children and those who might be partially immobile.

All too often older security bars cannot be removed from the outside -- that was, after all, the purpose of security bars -- so firefighters can be delayed in using the window to rescue people, as well.

On February 6, 2008, here in Spring Valley, not too far from where I live, three young children were burned to death because of the actions of an 18-year-old man in stoking the fireplace with a can of gasoline. That young man's actions will not be dwelt upon here. One can only hope that he has recovered from the grief that his actions caused to so many people, including himself. I suspect it will be a nightmare for him throughout his life.

The children, who were in a bedroom playing, might have been able to escape except that the house had older security bars on it with no safety releases. The fire moved very quickly, and smoke and flames took three young lives.

The three young children were those of my old friend, Greg Van Buskirk, who had recently moved to San Diego from Texas.

It's a sad story, but sometimes it takes a sad story to move people to action. I don't mind including a link to the event in my home inspection reports when necessary since it is public news and it just might move my Clients to truly understand that they should remove those old security bars before they move into the house.

As I come upon the first anniversary of the unnecessary death of these three young children, I'm moved to ask my ActiveRain friends to make sure that your own houses -- as well as those of your family, friends, and business associates -- have safety releases on any security bars in the bedrooms, and to make sure that your bedroom windows can be used as an emergency exit from the building -- that is, that it is not blocked by furniture, etc.

For readers who might be interested in news coverage of the event and after events, click here.

Scroll down for links to my Top 25 blog posts.

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Russel's Top 25 blog entries.

1. ActiveRain success story -- ActiveRain Feature
2. All God's creatures great and small -- ActiveRain Feature
3. An open letter to Realtors -- ActiveRain Feature
4. Just because they sell it doesn't mean you should buy it -- ActiveRain Feature
5. 12 reasons why I won't comment on your blog entries -- ActiveRain Feature
6. What happens when two home inspectors show up at the same time at the same property -- ActiveRain Feature
7. ActiveRain tags are very powerful. Here's how to use them effectively
8. Cracks on our properties and in our homes -- seven lessons
9. Did you take a shower today?
10. Go for the GOLD: How to use your time wisely
11. Hey! We have fall colors in San Diego
12. How my Clients got $17,800 from the bank on an "as-is" foreclosure
13. How sellers can prepare for a buyer's home inspection
14. How to trip, fall, and break an arm more efficiently
15. I purposefully burned a bridge yesterday
16. Is your dishwasher dish washing?
17. Out of sight, out of mind, skip the work, charge for it
18. The Client is always right, right?
19. We're three strange men. May we babysit your children?
20. What are you thinking? Yes, you! (electrical extension cords)
21. What are you thinking? Yes, you! (sink cabinets and chemical storage)
22. What part of that don't you understand? (Reading 101, English 101, & Spanish 101)
23. Which trees cause the most damage to our properties? -- five lessons
24. Would a foreclosed seller purposefully leave an explosive device behind?
25. Would you like what's behind Curtain #1, Curtain #2, or Curtain #3?