Special Fire Alarm Presented To Local Family In Memory of Couple Who Died in 2013 Fire

Caption: Scene of fatal fire at 1212 Field Court, Naperville, in December 2013 where a blind couple died.

On Dec. 18, 2013, Thomas and Janet Lambert, both legally blind, died in a fire that destroyed their Naperville home.

To honor their memory, the Lamberts’ family asked that donations be made in Thomas and Janet’s name to the Naperville Fire Department. Last year, the department used the funds raised to purchase three special fire alarms designed to warn hearing impaired persons with multi-alert signals of fire or smoke.

Naperville Fire Chief Mark Puknaitis and firefighters presented resident Kim DeCarlo and her hearing impaired son, Christopher, with one of the special fire alarms. With its multiple alert types, this alarm will increase the chances of Christopher, who wears cochlear implants during the day, effectively receiving a warning of a fire while he sleeps.

“The benefit of this device is that it ‘listens’ for the sound of a home smoke alarm and then uses three distinct alerts to wake the user up,” Chief Puknaitis explained during Monday’s presentation. “The three alerts include a 520 Hz square-wave alarm, a backlit display that flashes the word FIRE and a bed shaker that will vibrate rapidly to wake up the user. The hope is that these devices give Mr. DeCarlo and others a much greater chance of escaping and reaching safety.”

For more information about the special alarms for the hearing impaired, call the Naperville Fire Department at 630-305-5900 or visit or visit the fire department’s website.