Remember no one is asking for an end to traffic calming, just TC reform. You be the judge.

From the Washington Post.com

Md. Boy, 13, Dies in Fire At Friend's Sleepover
Blackout Prompted Use of Candlelight By Ruben Castaneda and Steven Gray Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, June 15, 1998; Page C01

A 13-year-old boy sleeping at a friend's house was killed and four other boys were critically burned early yesterday when a fire -- apparently started by a candle lighted because of a power outage -- engulfed a Gaithersburg basement.

A chain of circumstances created by Saturday's violent thunderstorms combined to trigger the tragedy, fire officials said. The five boys in the basement, ages 12 to 17, fell asleep without blowing out the candle, officials said.

When the candle apparently tipped over and ignited a chair, fire detectors did not go off because they run off the house's electrical system, fire officials said.

Finally, when a teenage daughter awoke to the smell of smoke and alerted her parents, they could not immediately call for help because their portable telephone, plugged into a wall outlet, was not working.

"It wasn't any one specific thing. It was a combination of factors" that contributed to the outcome, Montgomery County fire Capt. Jim Resnick said.

The fire broke out about 5:13 a.m. in the basement of the two-story home of Michael and Katherine Chapman, on Grantchester Place in a neighborhood of $150,000 to $300,000 homes. Three of the injured are their sons, Kyle, 12, Brandon, 13, and Keith, 17.

Arriving firefighters and police officers found a frantic Michael Chapman, 39, breaking in the basement's glass door with a concrete block and running into the heat and thick smoke to rescue one child while his wife lay in agony nearby, her back broken after jumping with her husband from their second-story bedroom.

"It was bedlam," Resnick said.

Just after Michael Chapman apparently went back and pulled out a second child, fire Capt. Ty Stottlemeyer, 33, raced into the basement and rescued a third child as the basement "flashed over," exploding everywhere in fire, Resnick said.

Another county firefighter, Tom Aquino, rescued the fourth boy, Resnick said.

The boy who died was identified as Stephon T. Collins, 13, of the 17700 block of Larchmont Drive in Gaithersburg.

Kim Riffle, a neighbor of the Chapmans', described Stephon as an average teenager who loved playing sports.

"He was a feisty little kid who'd do anything for you. He was handing out fliers to people asking if they'd need him to walk their dog or cut their grass," Riffle said as she pulled shards of glass from the well-kept lawn between her home and the burned-out Chapman home. "He was at the age where he wanted some extra money."

Among the critically injured boys, a 12-year-old neighbor identified as Sammy Juster -- also an overnight visitor -- was in grave condition after suffering severe burns to much of his body and his respiratory system as well as cardiac arrest, Resnick said. He was flown to Children's Hospital in the District after being resuscitated at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville, officials said.

The Chapmans' two younger sons suffered burns and were in critical condition at Children's Hospital. The 17-year-old was in critical condition at Washington Hospital Center. Katherine Chapman, 43, is in stable condition at Washington Hospital Center.

Michael Chapman and his 16-year-old daughter, Eugina McFarland, were treated for smoke inhalation at Washington Hospital Center and released, officials said. An 18-year-old daughter escaped without injury, officials said. The two girls were sleeping on the second floor, Resnick said.

Stottlemeyer was treated for second-degree burns on his face and shoulders at Washington Hospital Center and released, officials said.

Resnick said he hoped area residents would learn from the tragedy and prepare for future thunderstorm-induced power outages.

"Just because you have a smoke detector doesn't mean you have a smoke detector that will work when there's a power outage," Resnick said. Residents should buy battery-operated smoke detectors, Resnick said. "Candles and open flames should never be left unattended. When you fall asleep with the candles lit, you are leaving them unattended."

The daughter who awoke to smell smoke told investigators that she remembered blowing out candles on the first and second floors before going to bed, but not in the basement.

Staff writer Brian Mooar contributed to this report.