New campaign stresses need for dependable smoke alarms at homeDate: 12/29/2015 State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan and Wellesley Fire Chief Rick DeLorie, president of the Fire Chiefs’ Association of Massachusetts, recently announced the launch of a new statewide smoke alarm public awareness campaign – Smoke Alarms: A Sound You Can Live With – that focuses on replacing aging smoke alarms.
Coan said, “Most people know they are supposed to have working smoke alarms, but the one thing most people don’t know is that they should replace their entire alarms about every ten years.”
Major manufacturers of smoke alarms indicate they have a service life of about ten years and recommend replacement after that.
The statewide campaign is designed to support local fire department education efforts and will include television and radio public service announcements (PSAs), transit ads, and social media.
In 2014, you were more likely to die in a fire in a one- and two-family home than in any other residence and one without a working smoke alarm.
There were 10 percent more fire deaths in one- and two-family homes than all other residential occupancies combined.
Thirty-six percent of the fire deaths in one- and two-family homes occurred where there no working smoke alarms or where they failed to operate.
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