Experts weigh in on keeping autistic kids safe after West Bloomfield fatal house fire

• Three children were pronounced dead after a West Bloomfield fire in which one told 911 they couldn't get out and parents reported installing extra locks because an autistic child kept leaving.
• Children with autism wander more than unaffected siblings and are at risk of drowning or traffic injury when they do.
• A doctor and a former fire marshal, police chief and behavior analyst spoke to the Free Press about whether they would recommend door locks to keep kids safe, alternatives and free resources.

It’s not uncommon for autistic children to wander away from home, schools and caregivers.

And when they do, the outcomes can be deadly.

But experts are speaking out about efforts to keep kids inside after the Detroit Free Press revealed preliminary police findings about a West Bloomfield Township fire in which three children were later declared dead.

Fire and police investigations remain underway, but search warrant affidavits issued in the days after the Feb. 2 fire show the parents of Hannah, Jeremiah and Jacob Oliora told police that their middle child was diagnosed as autistic, was nonverbal and had a habit of leaving the house unannounced.

So, the parents placed a lock on the inside of the front door, put the key to leave in a lockbox that only they and the eldest child could access, and put locks on the windows, the records show they told police.

The eldest of the three teenage and preteen children told 911 they couldn’t get out of the house during the fire and one child was found behind the front door, the records showed.

Police say they have since learned additional information “including about the measures the parents took to keep their developmentally disabled children safe” that “appear to have been taken at the recommendation of knowledgeable experts.” They asked the public not to cast judgment without all of the details and with work still ongoing to determine official causes.

Parents of children with autism are between a rock and hard place trying to make decisions about the best way to keep their kids safe, confirmed Lori McIlwain, cofounder of the nonprofit National Autism Association.

Until someone is dealing with a child trying to get out 24/7, it can be very difficult to understand, she said. It’s not a daily concern — it’s minute-to-minute.

It's called "elopement," and it's when children or even vulnerable adults leave the care of a responsible person or safe area. Data shows serious risks with death by drowning or traffic injury when they do.

And McIlwain noted her own child with autism eloped from schools that avoid locks on certain doors due to fire safety.

“This gets to be such a gray area because for so many families the greater risk is elopement,” she said. “And it's difficult to give them advice when you're trying to keep the child from getting out of the house.”

There are options and free resources available, however, experts said.

High drowning risk

Last year was the deadliest year recorded for children with autism who wandered, escaped or eloped from the safety of a responsible adult, said McIlwain. Her organization has tracked this data since the mid-2000s.

The group determined 82 children with autism died in 2024 amid an elopement, about double from the prior year, she said. Of those, 75 drowned, and McIlwain said the figures are likely low.

Kids with autism have been found to elope or wander away more frequently than unaffected siblings and do it for reasons including enjoyment, to explore, and sometimes to avoid uncomfortable stimuli, according to a 2012 survey cited by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nearly half of youths with autism spectrum disorder attempted to elope at least once after age 4, the survey found. Of those who went missing, the survey found 24% were in danger of drowning and 65% were in danger of traffic injury.

And in 2017, a study from Columbia University found children with autism are 160 times as likely to die from drowning as other children.

There are also concerns about autistic children with limited communication skills who elope and encounter police, as miscommunication can lead to escalation, USA TODAY reports.

Some children with autism try to get out of the house so frequently, their parents sleep on a couch pulled in front of the door, McIlwain said. Some parents hide their children’s shoes, hoping to slow their kid’s run when they do get out.

One family even put a lock on their dog door to prevent their child from leaving, McIlwain said. The child still got out when it was unlocked for just a few brief moments.

Some parents have, indeed, felt the need to nail and drill windows and doors closed, she said.

The risk of fire

Parents have great intentions, but a former fire marshal who is also the father of a child with autism said people need to understand that fires spread quickly.

Within three to four minutes, a fire can overtake a room to the extent that even a firefighter in full gear can’t survive, said John Swanson, who spent about 20 years as a deputy state fire marshal in Minnesota.

And most people actually die of the smoke inhalation, not the fire itself, he said.

“Fire is so fast, you just don't have time to grab a key before you're overtaken,” he said. “And that's where I teach now about having sprinklers, having a plan, because unfortunately, there's a perception out there that ‘Firefighters will be there to save me if there's a fire in my house.’

“But fire is just too fast nowadays, and most people, quite frankly, are dead before the fire department even arrives on scene.”

Swanson has worked on Minnesota code changes related to the issue of elopement and fire safety, he said. He now works as a code and standards specialist for the National Fire Sprinkler Association, where he conducts trainings for fire marshals, inspectors and building officials. That work includes discussions on fire safety with autism.

Swanson remembers well the time when his autistic son wandered away.

He and his wife noticed the front door was open and found their son, Micah, about 4 or 5 years old then, had wandered into the driveway on a cold January day. The boy was wearing only pajamas.

After that, the family installed piercingly loud door alarms, he said. His son has an aversion to loud sounds and his son hasn’t wandered since.

Locks and wandering for children with autism

Swanson said he understands that the alarms won’t work for everyone, and it needs to be a case-by-case basis. But from a fire perspective, he is against the use of locks that would require keys to leave and locking kids in.

However, a Michigan doctor who works with families with autism says she has recommended locks as part of grander and ongoing discussions on safety.

Dr. Tisa Johnson-Hooper is a pediatrician and the medical director of Henry Ford Health's Generational Resilience Opportunity and Wellness, or GROW, Center for Autism and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities.

She said parents have to weigh the most immediate danger and devise a plan should they need to emergently get a child out.

“Unfortunately, families have to make a decision of how are they going to keep their child safe with an immediate potential danger … recognizing, you could potentially be impeding access to getting out of the house, should that door be locked,” she said.

Some families put locks on their child’s bedroom doors because at night they can be at risk of wandering the house getting into medicine or knives, she said. But safety planning has to be a part of that, including discussions about placing keys around a caregiver’s neck or otherwise making them immediately accessible.

Swanson emphasized his concern with having to get a key out. People think they can get a key out in time to escape, but they don’t have time.

Especially at night, even when woken by smoke alarms, it can take time for your body to react and realize what’s happening, he said.

“You’re losing valuable time in those situations,” he said.

It’s something parents wrestle with every day, Johnson-Hooper said, and a lock should not be a one-and-done solution. It’s to address an immediate danger, but the goal is to provide a child who is eloping with enough support, practice, and skills that a lock will no longer be needed.

Professional services can help address the behavioral needs behind elopement, said Erik Gallery, director of statewide access and early identification at the Autism Alliance of Michigan.

“Elopement is happening for a reason, whether it's based around something that that person is trying to access, or a sensory-based need. … So we want to ensure that their needs are being met, and they have an appropriate communication system that's been established so that if it is a matter of access, or if it's a matter of a sensory need, they can communicate what that is rather than engaging in the elopement.”

Options for families

Gallery said autism isn’t the same for everyone and he couldn’t confidently say a locking system would never be warranted. But having worked as a behavior analyst, he takes a top-down approach looking first at the least restrictive options.

The Autism Alliance of Michigan has a scholarship program to give away GPS trackers that can alert parents when their kids leave the property and alert first responders if they leave the area, said both Gallery and Colleen Allen, the alliance’s president and CEO.

The trackers are available in different styles, like a lanyard or a tag or a watch, depending on what works best for an individual child.

Another resource: The alliance has a free service called MiNavigator that can help connect families with local service providers, including behavior analysts who can help make safety plans specific to a family’s needs, Allen said. Navigators can also help direct families to make sure the financial aspect of that is covered.

Stop signs placed at entrances can give children enough time to reconsider an impulse or be stopped, said Johnson-Hooper.

Families should also familiarize neighbors with their child, their needs, their speaking status and what to do if they see them out alone, said Johnson-Hooper.

This could even include giving neighbors a photo of their child with instructions on the back, she said.

Door and window alarms can be cost prohibitive, but the National Autism Association gives away free alarms to families, McIlwain said.

“We recommend door and window alarms and adequate locks,” she said. “And when I say adequate, I mean locks that can be out of reach of the child but doesn't go so far as to create a safety hazard.”

McIlwain called on local governments, health agencies and others to help families finance better security systems for families with autistic children.

 “To help pay for security systems with more robust features that can help them keep their child safe so that (families) don't have to take extreme measures,” she said.

How to prepare in case of emergency

Homes need to have multiple smoke alarms, Johnson-Hooper said. She recommends having them in every room in the house, especially inside and outside of where a child with autism sleeps.

It did not appear there were working smoke alarms in the West Bloomfield home where the Oliora children lived, one fire official previously said.

Multiple experts including Gallery and Johnson-Hooper recommended families create safety plans and repeatedly practice what to do in emergencies. Several also discussed developing “social stories,” with illustrated guides showing their kids what a situation will look like and what to do. Multiple also discussed connecting with local police and fire departments directly.

And Bruce Ferguson, a former Dewitt police chief who has a nonverbal daughter with autism and is on the board of directors for Autism Support of Michigan, said families need plans A, B, and C if they are doing something special in their household to keep an eloping child inside.

That means training siblings on how to get out or how to break a window, perhaps giving a trusted neighbor a key, telling those neighbors which window is the room to your special needs child, or putting a sticker on your window to let firefighters know that room, he said.

Families need to think outside of the box, he said.

“I can't fault the parents for trying to save their child,” he said. “It’s just when you're living that situation and you're every day — every day — you're hoping and praying that they don't elope and get hurt … people shouldn’t be afraid to reach out to a second set of eyes to evaluate what they're doing.

“But you’re just — you're inundated with anxiety. And I get it. … It's just that you need to do that little extra.”