Fire Prevention Week promotes smoke alarm use
Hello citizens and business owners of Euclid! I’m excited about the chance to write for The Euclid Observer. My goal with each article is to help educate the public about the Euclid Fire Department (EFD), fire prevention topics, and life safety issues that can affect us all.
My first article coincides with a very important week in the fire service. This year, Fire Prevention Week runs Oct. 3 - 9. This year’s campaign theme is “Smoke Alarms: A Sound You Can Live With!” This week is designed to educate people about the importance of smoke alarms and encourages everyone to take steps necessary to update and maintain home smoke alarm protection.
Fire Prevention Week commemorates the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The conflagration killed more than 250 people, left 100,000 homeless, destroyed more than 17,000 structures, and burned more than 2,000 acres. While the Great Chicago Fire is the best-known blaze, it wasn’t the biggest. That distinction goes to the Peshtigo Fire, the most devastating forest fire in American history. The fire occurred on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, and roared through northeast Wisconsin, burning down 16 towns, killing 1,152 people, and scorching 1.2 million acres before it ended.
Both fires changed the way that firefighters and public officials thought about fire safety. On the 40th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire, the International Association of Fire Marshals decided that the anniversary should be observed not with festivities, but in a way that would keep the public informed about the importance of fire prevention (InCommand Magazine, Sept./Oct. 2010).
Arguably the greatest public life safety issue that firefighters face is encountering a home without working smoke detectors. I personally have been to fires where there have been no working smoke detectors and I’ve been to many fires where a smoke alarm worked and alerted occupants to a fire. Ask any firefighter, and we’ll all say the same thing: smoke detectors truly do save lives! These are some facts provided by the National Fire Protection Association:
Smoke alarms
- Smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a reported fire in half.
- Overall, three-quarters of all U.S. homes have at least one working smoke alarm.
- Each year, nearly 3,000 people die in U.S. home fires.
- In 2003-2006, roughly two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from home fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms. No smoke alarms were present in 40 percent of the home fire deaths.
- In more than half of the reported home fires in which the smoke alarms were present but did not operate even though the fire was large enough, batteries were missing or disconnected. Nuisance alarms were the leading reason for disconnected alarms.
- More than half of the smoke alarms found in reported fires and two-thirds of the alarms found in homes with fire deaths were powered by battery only.
Fire
- Cooking is the number one cause of home fires and injuries.
- Smoking is the leading cause of fire deaths.
- Heating is the second leading cause of home fires, fire deaths and fire injuries.
- Electrical failures or malfunctions are factors in roughly 50,000 reported fires each year.
Please check to make sure your smoke detectors are operable. If they are not, contact us! In cooperation with the American Red Cross, the EFD supplies and installs smoke detectors and batteries for residents at no charge. So far in 2010, the EFD has installed 155 smoke detectors in 66 homes. Since we began keeping records in July 2002, we’ve installed 3,000 smoke detectors in 1,500 homes. We care about your safety! Call (216) 289-8425 to set up an appointment. If you’d like more information about fire prevention, please visit the city’s website at http://www.cityofeuclid.com/community/fire/FirePrevention. Thank you for your time. See you next month!