chaikwa

Just a friendly reminder from your DTR janitor that as you set your clocks back tonite, (and even for those of you that don't have to do that), PLEASE remember to change the batteries in your smoke detectors. Then check the detectors to see that they actually WORK!

I think the other firefighters on this board will attest to the fact that, too often, we see people seriously hurt or even killed due to a lack of a simple smoke detector. And just as frequently, there are smoke detectors present but with no batteries, (or dead batteries), installed.

If you need batteries, or even a smoke detector and cannot afford them, PM ME!!! I will see to it that you get one free of charge. No strings attached. I just wanna keep my DTR family safe!

chaikwa.

displacedtexan

Thanks for the reminder... On the clocks and smoke detectors. They just might save your life...

MCMLV

Yea thanks for the reminder, and thanks for caring.

If I may add to it: Carbon monoxide detectors are also very important, especialy now with the colder weather, with furnaces and fire places running.
Carbon monoxide is a silent killer, can't see it or smell it. Stay safe everyone.

chaikwa

Excellent point! I forgot all about those!

Goes to show even those of us that teach this stuff all the time can forget stuff.

Last week I couldn't even spell 'perfeshinul', now I IZ one!

chaikwa.

BigBlue

Our smoke detector just started beeping at us last night saying "HEY DUMMY'S, CHANGE MY BATTERIES!!!!" That's kinda scary. You put a post up telling us to check them and at the same time our's starts beeping. Hmm.

jrs_dodge_diesel

Maybe chaikwa can also be considered a battery psycic.

joefarmer

I have to remove my smoke detector battery... it went off every time I tried to cook.

brandon.

AlpineRAM

Hmm, maybe you should try not to burn oakwood on top of the electric oven or you should try to cook a little slower. (Like going for a little less juice instead of judging the progress of your cooking by the colours of the flames emitted by your steak)

AlpineRAM

chaikwa

It's like I told a lady yesterday when she said she thought her smoke detector was defective because it'd go off everytime she cooked; "You don't need a smoke detector, you need a cookbook."

She was somewhat offended. Mike hates it when I do things like that, but I call 'em as I see 'em!

chaikwa.

t-15 firefighter

Excellent post chaikwa.

At almost every fatality fire that I have been to, the smoke detector was either not working or absent. In houses with smoke detectors, very seldom does anyone die. Usually if they do, it’s because they went back inside the structure for some reason after making it out safely.

If you know someone that needs a smoke detector, call your local fire dept. They will almost always come out to their house and install detectors free of charge. Our dept. provides this service and we go out at least a couple of times a week and install detectors for people in need.

I have a detector in every room of my house. Overkill? Yes. But I will know if there is a fire anywhere in my house. At a minimum, install detectors around the entry to each bedroom of your house and in the kitchen.

Take care and stay safe.

Britt

Herrin811

You shouldnt have one in the kitchen for that very reason....If your detector is in another room and is going off, you should stop cooking, take the tv's advice, and go to Hardee's

We recommend one in each bedroom, and one within 10 feet of each bedroom door.....The bedrooms are the most likely place you will die in a fire.

Our city has a very active prevention program. We work closely with the schools to teach kids from K-5 grades every years, and then we have Project S.A.F.E. for the 3rd grades kids in the spring...We also have a partnership with Walmart, where they donate $1,000 worth of smoke detectors and batteries to us every 6 months or so, (whenever we run out) We give them out free of charge, and will install them as well....

We had a triple-fatal in 1999...No detectors in the house...That was what spurred our programs into what they are today.....We have not had a single fatality fire since then....

chaikwa

T-7 and Herrin,

GREAT examples of a PRO-active approach rather than a REactive one! I wish more departments would follow your lead. Unfortunately, a lot of FD's still view public education as a sort of punishment. Still others just plain don't have the resources to do anything at all, and that's where our non-profit organization tries to fill that void. So far, we've had 18 documented 'saves' where a kid that's gone thru one of our programs has made a difference when faced with an emergency. I think that's pretty cool if I DO say so myself! And it proves that education DOES work!

So, did it work here? Out of the thousands of members here at DTR, we only have 10 responses to this thread! I just hope that a lot more than that looked at it and were reminded to check those smoke detectors! If it makes a difference in just one persons life, I'll be happy!

chaikwa.

t-15 firefighter

I'd be willing to bet it did

Britt

P.J

Double ditto on the C/O detectors along with the operable Somke Detectors. In January me and my son go to spend the evening in the hospital hooked up to Oxygen thanks to Carbon Monoxide. VERY scary to say the least. A normal reading is like 1-1.5 and I was a 24. I was fortunate not to have blacked out according to the doctors. Anyway, $700.00 hospital bill I am still paying off and all is well. Malfunctioning LP forklift at my father in law's business, NO-ONE had a clue.

Stay safe everyone, prevention IS the key to stuf like this.

headingtocheckbatteriesnow

Lary Ellis (Top)

Chaikwa,

Thanks for the advice, the trolling motor in my boat is getting a little weak, will you send me one of those instead of the battery for my smoke detector, I just changed it

Thanks in advance for the new Marine grade deep cycle battery (might have to move you up to Maintenance man and pick a new Janitor)