Four Texas Cities to Receive Smoke Alarms

The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT), the State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO), Travelers Insurance Company and First Alert have joined together to place smoke alarms into the homes of limited income and elderly residents in four Texas cities. The project, We’re Out to Alarm Texas, is in its second year of assisting needy Texans.

This year, firefighters in El Paso, Galveston, Farmers Branch and Mansfield will install the smoke alarms during Fire Prevention Week, which begins October 8.

ICT participated with the SFMO in a review of fire data in assessing what cities had a higher than average number of seniors and low income residents who were injured or killed in residential fires. Last year, more than two thousand smoke alarms were distributed to fire departments in Waco, New Braunfels and Lockhart.

Residents must contact each fire department to enroll in the smoke alarm project. Firefighters not only install the new alarms, but inspect the home to make sure other alarms may be working and point out potential fire hazards. Each fire department keeps track of where the smoke alarms are installed so that firefighters can determine if the alarms were instrumental in saving lives or property.

This year, ICT joined Travelers in providing fire departments with First Alert’s Ultimate Smoke & Fire Alarms that are guaranteed for ten years. First Alert home safety products such as smoke alarms and fire extinguishers have been in the market for more than 25 years.

Mark Hanna, an ICT spokesman, says the We’re Out to Alarm Texas project is placing smoke alarms in homes where there are none, replacing smoke alarms that no longer work and providing homeowners fire prevention information.

“This project relies heavily on the assistance of firefighters to reach those in need and install these smoke alarms,” said Hanna. “If we save one life or prevent one home from burning down, I would say the project has been a success.”

Source: ICT