Yesterday going down Rockport Rd. saw a lot of families moving stuff out. What a shame to lose your home like that. I feel for all involved. It is darn lucky that no one died in this fire. God Bless all.

Frogger/ That's being a responsible landlord. Hopefully more landlords will follow your example and at least tennants will be educated.

Just giving you an example of a behavior.

A few of us mention this renters insurance in these blogs about fires because in each of these articles I would say 1 of 10 had insurance. I hope the people who live in this building will read to get renters insurance. Covers theft too.
If I were a landlord and when I was I made sure they had renters insurance. Well I cannot make them but I asked if they had it and were aware of it. They were and did have it. I believe it has some coverage if somebody gets hurt in your place too.

Frogger! You're painting a picture that everyone who rents are like the few people you've observed. Less people smoke now than ever. Not every renter knows about renters insurance and not every renter realizes it is affordable for them. Next you'll say every renter plays the lottery instead of getting renters insurance, or drinks alcohol, or uses drugs. Do you see how wrong it is to generalize on one behavior?

I am not arrogant because people need to have priorities. I am not putting them down. I am just trying to let people know how important it is. It has been around FOREVER. For them not to know about this is strange. You insure everything else. Well most do anyway.

Yes I find it interesting that those who make such little money can still find $200 + a month for cigs.

No they may not all smoke- some have husband and wife and BOTH smoke.
It has been proven that low income families tend to smoke.

I went to the fair(for an event) once and ECHO was giving out food. As a girl piled more food than I ever buy into her cart she was smoking along with the person help her load up all the goods.

How arrogant and presumptuous of you to assume renters pass up renters insurance for cigarettes. $7 to $15 a month may seem a trivial amount to you but if you are struggling to provide for a family, paying for auto insurance, co-pays on prescriptions, food, school supplies and clothes, it just may be the one thing you have to go without. Plus, many people aren't even aware of renters insurance or how much it costs. Don't put people down for not being as insurance savy and in the same tax bracket as you.

This isn't the first fire this child has started. That came from the mother's mouth at the fire scene yesterday. It's his 3rd!! Something had better be done with the parenting of the 4 kids they have. Someone could have died in this fire!! Like my friend who lived DIRECTLY above them!!!

I apologize, the blind womans child was the one that set the fire, not the lady outside smoking. But again, blind or not, couldn't she smell it or call for her child to know what they were doing? I am not pointing fingers but someone needs to take responsibility.

I odn't think the blind lady is Senecal. Again written strange.

It sounds like the blind neighbor was outside near the lady smoking.
They never said where Senecal lady was. If blind lady and Seneca are the same person - YES WHY are they alone in the apartment?

That is sorta silly remark. If people are 100% blind they don't get their own children taken away at least I don't think they do.

The lighters should have never been "out".

See if you quit more than that "just one" per day to cover the rental INS you wouldn't have a fire with unattended lighters.

I bet blind people can hear a bit better when kids are into stuff in this case she did hear and got everybody out.

Ok please read the two paragraphs the mom Erika S went outside told neighbor she heard alarm going off, she is blind. Her three old started fire. Ok my question is she 100% blind why is she alone with kids?

I just watched the video. I'm very impressed with how the fire department worked together. Great group. Wow.

I feel bad for the families that lived here. I hope they find a place to call home soon.

I can't see a three year old even being able to light a lighter that would be like me trying to light a lighter with my left hand

li713, I was wondering the same thing. If the parent was outside smoking, why wasn't the three year old with them? It can take anywhere from 2 minutes to 1/2 hour to smoke a cigarette, depends on who is doing the smoking. That little one should not be left alone for any amount of time. I also wonder why if the laundry basket was on fire, why didn't someone try to put it out? I guess we will find out answers in the next article about this fire. No amount of money can replace personal memories such as pictures, projects your kids made or hand-me-downs from generations before. The material things can be replaced such as furniture.

frogger...you said exactly what I was going to say. The last time that I rented a place was back in 2001. At that time, my renter's insurance, for $65,000 in coverage for personal belongings, was $7 a month. I gave up two trips to McDonald's a month and my belongings were safely insured.

janesvillean- exactly- for all those who cannot afford it. Lets break it down. It is only 2 less cartons of cigs for you. I am pretty sure Aid doesn't cover those. So no it isn't a choice of food vs insurance. It is 1.09 less cigs a day. If you cannot figure out this priority you have issues.
Like Janesvillean said can you afford to REPLACE all that is lost vs 1.09 cig a day?

oops, my mistake....I suggested removal of my own comment :)

What I would like to know is just where exactly where the parents or babysitter of the 3 year old (and the other children in the apartment) while he was playing with fire? The article says the neighbor got the children out of the apartment after the fire alarm went off....so where were the parents? I hope someone looks into this. Lives, including those of the children, could have been lost due to negligence. This would have been much more of a tragedy if it weren't for those attentive neighbors.

There will always be people who literally can't afford renters insurance, but a basic policy can be under $15/month. Many people pay more than that for cable, internet, or cell phone bills. The question is not whether can you afford insurance -- the question is whether can you afford to replace all your stuff. I sympathize, but that doesn't change the math.
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The biggest misconception, though, is that the landlord's insurance will cover your losses. That is definitely false in most cases.

My concern is the loss of all the tenents personal belongings and that is something insurance can't replace Memories of a lifetime in pictures and family possessions So please think about what you would do if you lost all things that are not replacable.....

Renters insurance??? Really??? The rent is cheap in those buildings, which the reason a lot of these families rent there. They probably don't have the means to have renters insurance. It probably boils down to a choice of food or renters insurance... What do you choose? To call someone foolish is just plain ol' ignorance. Please think before you post!

yooper the reason that they had beloit is because they have a thing called a box alarm, when activated dispatch pulls from neighboring cities to help with the call and the reason they go so far away is because you cant take all of your resources from one area due to the fact that there is a chance of another emergency as large as the first one basicaly its planing ahead and the same goes for why Janesville didnt use all of their engins if they used all of Janesvilles and my house starts on fire they would have to go even farther away to cover my house fire. That fire easily took four or more crews due to the fact that each fire station is only stafed with four to five people. With a building of that size you have many hazzards that I am not going to address here.

I am proud of our city's Firefighter's, another job well done. They never get enough credit.

I am very appreciative the firefighters make every effort to save pets. Animals are family to their owners. Some of us talk about our pets as if they are our children because they are that important to us. For me, my cats are my comfort and I would not want to lose them this way.

This is tragic. I am so glad that nobody was seriously injured. I hope all of the missing pets end up OK and find a way back to their owners. P.S. Thank you for doing a great job, firefighters!

I can't believe you removed my comment!! Let me reword it for you:
Mayhem/ These people experienced a loss, please don't say things that are not nice.
Better Gazette staff? Boy, the word police are tough lately.

cubfan48 Obviously you aren't a pet owner and obviuosly you do not know any firefighters. Their job is to risk their lives to save lives...no where does it say in their contracts "don't worry about saving pets." Firefighters have a heart of gold and are brave as hell for doing what they do. Way to go Janesville FD!

Can always go to the humane society and get another pet. Lot better than risking a fireman's life.

I like that they care enough about the pets that live. When all else is gone at least you still have your beloved pet.
Thanks firefighters!!!

Anyone renting, is foolish NOT to have insurance. It covers theft, water damage (not flooding), and fire. As well as personal belongings, and who wants to have to start all over again?

Hope all are ok...

As explained in the other thread, this was routine mutual aid so that no single department need deplete all its resources. The JFD naturally assists Beloit Twp. FD when necessary.
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The landlord's insurance only comes into play if there is a liability issue, e.g. unrepaired electrical code violations. Regardless, the tenants would need to sue or threaten a suit in order to collect a settlement. Only if the renters had their OWN renters insurance will this be handled as smoothly as traffic accident claims.

The owner's insurance is only going to pay for the building, not the contents. That's why renter's insurance is just as important as auto insurance.

Wasn't there some emergency training going on today at Marshall M.S. too? If there was staff there in the middle of emergency training, I'm sure that they had a plan to have support from neighboring departments if need be.

Why would Beloit Township assist? Seems a little far away for them.

depends on who was at fault the owners insurance may pay yet?

How sad, couldn't imagine having to start all over again, I pray the tenants had insurance of some sort....