Location matters when it comes to your smoke alarm. That’s the message behind this year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign, “Hear the Beep Where You Sleep. Every Bedroom Needs a Working Smoke Alarm!”
Along with firefighters and safety advocates nationwide, Greenville City Fire Department (GCFD) is joining forces with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) during Fire Prevention Week, October 4-10, to remind residents about the importance of having working smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home, including the basement.
Greenville City Fire Department and the Upstate SC Chapter of the American Red Cross will kick off Fire Prevention Week a day early, with a smoke alarm blitz in the Nicholtown community on Saturday, October 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. According to Will Broscious, GCFD’s community risk reduction coordinator, the team is setting the bar high for the blitz, with a goal of visiting 300 homes in one day. To date, GCFD and its partners have conducted smoke alarm blitzes in neighborhoods all across the city, reaching 856 households and installing 1,307 smoke alarms in homes that had too few or no working smoke alarms.
As part of their weeklong celebration, GCFD will partner once again with the Domino’s® at 435 Pleasantburg Drive to give some customers who call in an order between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Monday, October 5 and Tuesday, October 6 a chance to have their pizza delivered by a fire truck. Customers will be chosen randomly, and for those selected, members of GCFD will deliver their pizza and conduct a fire safety survey of their home. If all of their smoke alarms work and are in the proper locations, the customer will receive their pizza at no charge. If smoke alarms are needed, the firefighters will install smoke alarms in their home at no charge.
To help spread the message, GCFD will also partner with Greenlink to provide lifesaving fire safety information on buses and at bus stops, and will hold a contest on the City’s Facebook page. On select days during the week, firefighters will post a fire safety question, and will choose random winners from those who answer the questions correctly. The third annual Citizens Fire Academy will also be underway during Fire Prevention Week, with a new class of citizens who will be spending the next seven weeks gaining an appreciation for what it’s like to be a firefighter, and learning ways they can help prevent fires in the first place.
This year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign includes the following smoke alarm messages:
• Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each separate sleeping area and on every level of the home, including the basement.
• Interconnect all smoke alarms throughout the home. This way, when one sounds, they all do.
• Test alarms at least monthly by pushing the test button.
• Replace all smoke alarms when they are 10 years old or sooner if they don’t respond properly.
• Make sure everyone in the home knows the sound of the smoke alarm and understands what to do when they hear it.
• If the smoke alarm sounds, get outside and stay outside. Go to your outside meeting place.
• Call the fire department from outside the home.
According to the latest NFPA research, working smoke alarms cut the chance of dying in a fire in half. Meanwhile, three out of five fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms. “In a fire, seconds count,” said Broscious. “Half of home fire deaths result from fires reported between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. when most people are asleep. Home smoke alarms can alert people to a fire before it spreads, giving everyone enough time to get out.” To learn more, visit www.firepreventionweek.org.
Greenville City Fire Department provides smoke alarms and installation, free of charge, to city residents. Residents who feel their smoke alarm is not functioning properly, or who cannot afford an alarm or do not have an alarm, can call 232-2273 to request an appointment, or submit a Smoke Alarm Request Form.