Hear the beep where you sleep. Some alarming facts for National Fire Prevention Week.

The National Fire Protection Association’s National Fire Prevention Week takes place this year from October 4 to 10. As a company that specializes in safety products and services, Apollo Safety, Inc. is getting the word out early on how to prevent fires in the home and business.

“According to the National Fire Protection Association, the folks who put on National Fire Prevention week, an average of eight people died per day due to home fires in 2013. Eight a day is a staggering statistic and it is eight too many,” said John Carvalho, president of the Fall River, MA-based Apollo Safety. “The shame of that figure is how many of those deaths are preventable, particularly the ones from smoke inhalation where a proper alarms and training alarm could have alerted residents so they could at least get out of the home.”

The numbers certainly back up that claim. Again according to the National Fire Protection Association website, three out of five home fire deaths in 2007-2011 were caused by fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.

Having a working smoke alarm does reduce the risk of dying in reported home fires by half, but lack of maintenance of those alarms creates further risk. In fires considered large enough to activate the smoke alarm, hardwired alarms operated 93 percent of the time, while battery powered alarms operated only 79 percent of the time. When smoke alarms fail to operate, it is usually because batteries are missing, disconnected, or dead.

“It’s one of the reasons we started selling batteries for that very reason,” said Carvalho. “Too often people will buy a detection system for their home and then forget about it. Or, when it comes time to replace the batteries, they don’t have any on hand and, consequently, the batteries aren’t changed in a timely fashion. That’s why Thanksgiving or when we change the clocks to or from daylight savings has caught on as a semi-annual reminder to change your batteries.”

Additionally, Apollo Safety’s offerings include a variety smoke and gas detection systems suitable for a residence, large apartment buildings and other commercial properties. These systems are available for purchase at www.apollosafetyproducts.net.

Apollo Safety also provides on-site installation and training and 24/7 service for commercial, industrial and educational facilities. All Apollo Safety technicians are factory-trained and certified. In addition, Apollo offers its own training program, with five levels of certification.

For more information on Apollo Safety products and services, please call 800-813-5408 or visit www.apollosafetyproducts.net