BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Oakley home in which a 66-year-old man died this weekend had a smoke detector, but no battery was in it, Cincinnati fire officials confirmed Sunday.
But Assistant Fire Chief John Neal said it might be impossible to determine whether a working detector might have saved the life of Donald Glassmeyer.
The cause of the blaze remained under investigation. Mr. Neal said there was no immediate evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Mr. Glassmeyer's body was found in the bathtub of his upstairs apartment in the 4000 block of Brownway Ave. Mr. Glassmeyer, who lived alone, is thought to have gone to the bathtub to avoid burning, Mr. Neal said.
The fire, which broke out in Mr. Glassmeyer's unit at 4:40 a.m. Saturday, destroyed the $150,000 building and left several people homeless. A family lived on the first floor, a woman on the second. The empty smoke detector was in a downstairs hallway.
"You have to stress the importance of smoke detectors," Assistant Chief Neal said. "I don't know if it would have saved his life, but you're far better off to have them."
He said the home was built in the early 1900s, and the construction typical of that era was a contributing factor in how quickly the fire spread.
The fire swept through concealed air space between the exterior and interior walls. Building codes now require platform framing in wall construction that impedes fire from spreading from one floor to another, he said.
He said the nature of the older construction makes it even more important that smoke detectors be installed and operating, but that every home should be equipped with them.
