With poll: Ann Arbor's proposed couch ban should be revisited to save lives

Indoor couches are made for the indoors. They are not meant for the outdoors.

Modern sofas have flame-retardant materials in them, but the outside elements degrade them. The couch on the porch endures countless cycles of high humidity, heat, cold, wind, sunlight, rain, snow and abuse it wasn't designed to handle.

In the next few weeks as students move out of their housing, the curbs will be littered with furniture, including sofas discarded by students who are moving away. Who knows how much direct weather the sofas will endure before someone sees this trash as treasure that would be perfect on their front porch - maybe even right next to the grill.

I can hear the trash picker now, “Dude, that way we can kick back, fire up a medicinal doobie or pound a beer while we grill our steaks - AWESOME!” Until the sofa catches fire and burns down the house as it has so many times in recent years.

Two fires stick out in my mind that caused injuries, but may have been deadly had the victims not been conditioned athletes. These fires occurred in the 1000 block of Oakland and the 700 block of Arbor.

Both were very close calls. Both of these major fires were within about six houses of each other and about a year apart. At least one of those fires occurred in an older home with “balloon” construction, which had no firebreaks between floors. Both houses were quickly consumed by fires started on front porch couches.

Several years ago, an idea was floated about an ordinance banning sofas on porches in Ann Arbor, and it didn't draw much attention. Other cities have such ordinances.

Chris Reilly of Ann Arbor is pictured in this 2005 file photo on the couch on his friends' porch at a house on the corner of Division and Hoover streets in Ann Arbor. Reilly said he was opposed to a ban on upholstered furniture on porches.

Perhaps the time has come for such an ordinance in Ann Arbor.

How many students have to be injured or killed? How many rental properties must burn? How many more tragedies must we endure before we try to do something positive to prevent this?

Will a couch ordinance prevent all fires in off-campus housing? No. But I can say from experience that I know of at least three injury/fatality fires it would have prevented.

We don't yet know what caused the recent tragic fire that killed 22-year-old Renden LeMaster. We do know it started on the porch of the South State Street home, and the home had a couch on the porch.

My sincerest thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims of that fire. The living will endure pain and psychological trauma. Renden LeMaster’s family must mourn the death of their beloved son. I can not imagine the pain they must be feeling, but my heart goes out to them from one parent to another.

Perhaps Renden LeMaster’s terrible death could save others students’ lives if the couch ban discussion is renewed now. It is time to ban indoor upholstered furniture (e.g. sofas and overstuffed chairs) on outdoor front porches!

If you agree, please contact your council member or the mayor and ask them to adopt an ordinance banning indoor furniture on outside porches. Let’s all work together and save some lives.

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbors.

PLEASE NOTE: The Ann Arbor Police Department is looking for anyone with information about the fire at 928 South State. If you have any information please contact the Ann Arbor Police Department tip line at: Tips@a2gov.org or call the anonymous tip line at 734-794-6939.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who now blogs about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.