NFPA Fire Prevention Week

This year's theme for fire prevention week is "Working Smoke Alarms Save Lives".
According to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA)

• Having a working smoke alarm in the home cuts the risk of dying in a fire in half.
• On average each year, three out of five home fire deaths result in fires where there are either no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
• In one-quarter (23 percent) of the home fire deaths, smoke alarms were present but did not sound.

Recently, I covered a story about an elderly couple who lost their University City (Philadelphia, PA) home in a mid evening fire. Both the husband and wife were able to escape because of working smoke detectors. The wife was upstairs sleeping. She woke up to the sound of the smoke detector going off. She discovered upon waking up that her bedroom was already filling with smoke. her husband who was asleep downstairs on the sofa, heard the smoke detector going off. The fire was located a second floor bedroom. Two lives were saved by one smoke detector, one battery, and one simple test a month.

Check your smoke detectors every month. Encourage your neighbors to do the same. Something this simple and easy could save your life