A Deadly Fire Season In DC And Across The Nation

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- 9NEWS NOW has learned that United States Fire Administrator Greg Cade will join DC area and East Coast fire chiefs to talk about a deadly start to the new year. Five fires across the country since January 1 have killed 25 people.

Six of those deaths occurred in a New Year's Day house fire in DC's Brookland Neighborhood. Other multiple fatal fires have occurred in Texas, New York and Missouri and Oklahoma.

According to federal and local sources, Cade and the chiefs will once again emphasize the need for working smoke alarms. DC officials will not say if the smoke alarms found in the Brookland home were operating. In the Richland, New York fire where eight people died, no working detectors were found.

A fire in Philadelphia on December 26 that killed seven people also was in a home without working smoke alarms. Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers is expected at Wednesday's press conference at a District of Columbia fire station.

Greg Cade was a fire official in Maryland and Virginia before being appointed by President Bush to lead the US Fire Administration.