Firefighters Save Lives With Free Smoke Detectors

The Bristol Fire Company, Station 51, recently received a $23,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security for a smoke alarm program.

“Smoke alarms have proven to be a well-worth investment,” said Herb Slack, Bristol's fire chief.

“We’ve been involved with a carbon monoxide program now for about a year, where we got another grant to install carbon monoxide alarms, and while we were out there installing them, we were also checking on smoke alarms.”

What they were finding is that people did have the alarms, but then when they checked them they were discovering that in a lot of cases they were more than 10 years old.

Smoke alarms only have an effective life of 10 years.

The Department will utilize the grant from the Fire Prevention and Safety Program to install 1,500 smoke alarms in the homes of Bristol residents free of charge.

“We don’t give out smoke alarms, because over time we found that in a lot of cases, when we give out the alarms, they don’t necessarily come out of the box. So, we go to the house and install them.”

The smoke alarm installation and education program will be conducted in conjunction with the carbon monoxide alarm and education initiative. The grant received will cover 95 percent of the total cost of the project, while the Bristol Borough Council matched the remaining five percent, or $1,225.

There should be at least one smoke detector on every level of the home, and one installed in every sleeping area.

“The homes that we have been into, we found that they are very appreciative of what we are doing,” Slack said. “The smoke alarms that we are installing have a 10-year battery.”

For more information about the program, visit www.bristol51.com, or www.bristolborough.com.