Question:
Im interested in starting a smoke detector program in my town. We just had a double fatal fire in an old farm house and there were no smoke detectors. The type of program im looking for is send out a mailing, asking who needs a detector and the fire dept. going out and installing them to the manufacters recommendations. Im going to go to the various businesses in town and ask for donations. Is there anyone out there that has done this type of program?

Answer: Around 1989 or 1990, we had a triple fatality in a low-income, primarily Hispanic residential area without fire hydrants. The mother and father had died from heat and smoke inhalation and the 11 month old baby was rescued, given CPR, but expired en-route to the hospital. The major shocks were that the house had no smoke detectors (it was a rental house, and at the time, home owners were not required to have smoke detectors in the residences they rent out... not sure current status of said laws) and the family would definitely, given all of the evidence at the fire scene, would have been able to escape had they had a working smoke detector in their house... Our department was very hurt by this incident, lives which would have been saved by a small $6.00 device, so we decided to use this to spawn a fire education blitz in the neighborhood where the fire occured. Part of this involved installing free smoke detectors into residences houses. We got money through emergency donations from businesses and the Chamber of Commerce in the area to buy the smoke detectors, batteries, and smoke detector testing smoke. We then planned a day long fire education program in the communities central meeting place... a church, in this case. We taught classes in both English and Spanish concerning fire prevention, EDITH, SDR (stop, dro p, and roll), calling 911, etc. We also encouraged them to participate in and tell their neighbors to participate in the smoke detector installation program. Basically, we let home owners know about the smoke detector program with the fire safety program. The media blitz covered radio, TV, news paper, community leaders, school officials, and neighbors. We let people in the subdivision know that firefighters would be coming around with smoke detectors and that we wou ld install them for free or test existing ones. Procedurally, we would knock on the resident's door, identify ourselves, tell them that we have free smoke detectors to install, and, if necessary, deliver a "sales pitch." If they said they had one, we would offer to test it. Most of the time, we were invited in. Some households only spoke Spanish, so we would either have a Spanish speaking FF/EMT with us or we would have someone translate over the radio. We would install as many smoke detectors as necessary and placed where necessary according to NFPA guidelines (not sure which one). Most of these houses were small, requiring one in the hall way between living quarters. Others required one detector between living quarters on one side of the house and one on the other. None had basements, but we did place an extra one in the basement, if they had one (part of that NFPA guideline). We tried to avoid placing detectors in or around kitchens because 1) the smoke will sometimes set them off 2) the grease in the smoke will collect in the sensors in the detector clogging it. Each detector had a battery. We placed stickers on the batteries to identify them as ones we distributed. After a year, the home owners can return the stickered battery for a new battery. If they have any problems with the smoke detectors after we installed them, they could call us to inspect/repair replace them as needed. They could even call us for a fire safety inspection of their house. Realize that there is always some liability with a program like this. When you install the smoke detectors, follow NFPA and other guidelines to the letter. Also, before you leave, make SURE they WORK. Keep a log of the addresses of the houses you visited. If the home owner oblidges, get their names and phone numbers. Heck, you might even ask them to join your fire department