Sept. 24, 2024
Camano Island Fire and Rescue is teaming up with State Farm® and the National Fire Protection Association® (NFPA®) to promote Fire Prevention Week™, October 6-12. This year’s focus is “Smoke alarms: Make them work for you.™,” which aims make sure the public knows about the critical importance of working smoke alarms.
The majority of U.S. home fire deaths occurs in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms. According to NFPA, working smoke alarms reduce the risk of dying in a fire by more than half (54 percent).
“Calling 911 is the first step to getting help when a fire breaks out,” Camano Fire Chief Levon Yengoyan said. “Working smoke alarms are an integral piece of that early notification of a fire – and a critical part of our ability to respond quickly and mitigate the emergency in a timely fashion.”
Camano Fire and local State Farm agent Leslie Tripp encourage all residents to check and test their smoke alarms this Fire Prevention Week. Here’s what you can do to keep your family safe:
- Test all smoke alarms monthly to make sure they work.
- Make sure smoke alarms meet the needs of all family members, including those with sensory or physical disabilities
- Make sure alarms are installed inside each bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home,
- Replace smoke alarms that are more than 10 years old, or that don’t work.
To support Fire Prevention Week, Leslie Tripp donated a toolkit of resources to Camano Fire, including activities and information for children and adults, to make sure the department has age-appropriate messages about smoke alarms and other home fire safety and prevention resources.
“It was a privilege to donate the Fire Safety kit to Camano Fire for the benefit of the community,” Tripp said.
Chief Yengoyan echoed that sentiment. “Public safety, especially in a community like Camano, is a partnership of the fire department, the community, and our local businesses,” he said. “We appreciate the partnership of Leslie Tripp and State Farm to make more of these lifesaving resources available in our community.”
Fire Prevention Week is celebrated throughout North America every October and is the oldest U.S. public health observance on record. For more than 100 years, Fire Prevention Week has worked to educate people the risk of home fires and ways to minimize them. Local fire departments, schools, and community organizations play a key role in bringing Fire Prevention Week to life in their communities each year and spreading basic but critical fire safety messages.
To learn more about Fire Prevention Week and this year’s theme, “Smoke alarms: Make them work or you!” visit fpw.org. Additional Fire Prevention Week resources for children, caregivers, and educators can be found at sparky.org and sparkyschoolhouse.org.