HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- In this country someone dies roughly every three hours in a house fire.

Every half hour someone is injured or burned, and what's most alarming is that half of the deadly house fires in this country have one thing in common: no smoke detectors.

“Yesterday, we still had our pictures up, everything was on the wall, and then you come in here. This is our kitchen and it's just gone,” Ericka Lucas said.

Lucas is still stunned by the power of fire.

She said she’s lucky that her family is alive, but still haunted by the "what ifs."

"What if we would have been asleep? I wonder if we would have woke up,” Lucas said.

“The best place for smoke detectors would have been outside the sleeping area and inside the sleeping area and one in the basement as well,” Jonathan Pennington with Ashland’s fire department said.

“Mainly due to the reason more people work different shifts, a lot more people are on certain medications that make them sleep better. They might not hear one outside the hallway," Lt. Andrew Frazier with Barboursville volunteer fire department said.

In Ashland Kentucky, if you own a home, you can call for free smoke detectors and a regular checkup.

Remember, most people don't die from actually being burned.

They inhale the toxic gases and smoke, and that’s what kills them.

Seniors run twice the risk of dying or being injured than the rest of the population.