West Des Moines Fire Department to Distribute Free Smoke Alarm Batteries

West Des Moines firefighters will deliver and install about 1,500 9-volt smoke alarm batteries to residents of Valley Junction Wednesday night under a program sponsored by Energizer Battery’s annual Change Your Clock Change Your Battery campaign.

The fire department was one of 25 communities across the country receiving large shipments of batteries from Energizer, Fire Marshal Mike Whitsell said.

The fire department canvas begins at 6 p.m. Halloween night. Before the evening is over, firefighters – along with volunteers from the state fire marshal’s office and Energizer’s St. Louis office – hope to have visited about 1,700 homes with the batteries.

According to fire prevention statistics, 38 percent of fatal fire injuries occurr in homes without working smoke alarms. Another 24 percent occur in homes in which at least one smoke alarm was installed, but was inoperable – primarily because of dead or missing batteries.

Whitsell said the gift from Energizer allows the fire department to target an older neighborhood where the need  and requests for assistance are greater than in some other parts of the community.

Last year, the fire department worked with the state fire marshal’s office to distribute and install batteries in a small area of Valley Junction near where a disastrous house fire had occurred.

“We found a lot had non-working detectors or they were laying on coffee table without batteries,” Whitsell said.

Firefighters will install the batteries to make sure the job is done correctly and smoke alarms are in working order when they leave. 

“We are not going to force anyone, but if it helps one person, this is so worth it,” Whitsell said.