Smoke Alarm Blitz Arms Seniors With Life Saving Device

WOODSTOCK, GA -- On Friday, the Woodstock Fire Department, with the help of The Home Depot, conducted a Smoke Alarm Blitz at a local senior community.

The agency visited the Willows in Woodstock, a neighborhood on Hames Road with about 24 residents, and replaced 56 smoke alarms in 18 homes.

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The fire department removed outdated smoke alarms and installed new ones, a free service it offers to citizens who may not be able to do so without assistance.

Generally, smoke alarms are good for 10 years. Most manufactures recommend replacing them after this time.

Important fire related statistics offered by the Woodstock Fire Department:

• Three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms (38 percent) or no working smoke alarms (21 percent).
• The death rate per 100 reported home fires was more than twice as high in homes that did not have any working smoke alarms (1.18 deaths per 100 fires), either because no smoke alarm was present or an alarm was present but did not operate), as it was in homes with working smoke alarms (0.53 per 100 fires).
• The death rate from reported fires in homes that had at least one smoke alarm (0.59 deaths per 100 fires) was one-third (36 percent) lower than in homes that had no smoke alarms at all (0.98 deaths per 100 fires).
• The death rate was much higher in fires in which a smoke alarm was present but did not operate (1.89 deaths per 100 fires) than it was in home fires with no smoke alarms at all.

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Images via Woodstock Fire Department