PEORIA, Ill. – With the clocks set to move ahead this weekend, the Peoria Fire Department and American Red Cross say it’s also time to check your smoke detectors.
This week is the “Sound the Alarm” campaign by both Peoria Fire and the Red Cross, with the goal of getting people to check their smoke detectors, and replace the batteries in them, or the detector itself.
Peoria Fire Division Chief of Fire Prevention Nate Rice says having smoke detectors in working condition is a life-saving measure.
“The National Fire Protection Association states that you have a 55% chance better survival rate if you have a working smoke alarm in your house, in the event of a fire. And that statistic does not lie,” Rice said.
Rice says people should replace smoke detectors if they are more than ten years old. He says newer models have batteries installed in them that can last ten years, and are now required by state law.
On Thursday, the Peoria Fire Department instructed volunteers with the Red Cross working to install smoke detectors at homes across the city. Teams worked in groups of three to install the detectors at more than 100 homes in Peoria.
The Red Cross’ Jayce Eustice says the detectors are being given and installed at no-cost to those in need for a variety of reasons.
“It could be people that could possibly not be able to afford smoke alarms, but it could also be the older population where maybe you don’t want them going up on ladders, maybe risking their health going up and trying to install and change their smoke alarms themselves,” Eustice said. “Obviously every home has their own story. But it’s our job as the American Red Cross just to make sure that anyone who is in need of smoke alarms has access to those smoke alarms.”
Eustice says the majority of disasters they go to each year is fires, and says the risk of death is cut in half with a working smoke detector. He says a working smoke detector is vital, because, on average, a person has two minutes to escape a home fire safely.
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