City urges need for smoke detectors after seventh fatal fire in 2014

 MILWAUKEE- On Sunday, Milwaukee had it's seventh fatal fire of 2014 at an apartment on Kaul Avenue.

In 2013, there were only two fatal fires.

The city said the common theme this year is that in all seven fires there were no working smoke detectors.

The responsibility for working smoke detectors falls on the city, property owners, and tenants.

They city said they do 16,000 fire inspections annually.

The building in the fatal fire on Sunday was last checked in January and it passed the inspection, but on Sunday the fire department said that they couldn't find a single working smoke detector. 

It's unclear what happened between the inspection and the fire.

The city said more inspections isn't practical.

\"The can't be a governmental policing action,\"  Art Dahlberg, Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services Commissioner, said.

Dahlberg said that property owners and tenants need to check their smoke detectors and report if there are problems.

The city can take action again problem owners, but explained that it shouldn't come to that because smoke detectors are a simple and cheap fix.

From 2009 to 2013, the building on Kaul Avenue did have a number of fire prevention violations, but they were taken care of.

The city said there are apartments much worse in Milwaukee.

In October of 2017, it will be a requirement in the city to have a 10 year or more battery powered smoke detector.