Learn The Sounds of Fire Safety

from Our City Weston: October 2021

Meet "Duke"

Learn the Sounds of Fire Safety! is this year’s NFPA campaign to bring education and awareness for Fire Safety. Each year during Fire Prevention Week, which runs from October 3-9, The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the Broward Sheriff’s Office Department of Fire Rescue encourage you and your family to know the different sounds of smoke and carbon monoxide alarms make. Sparky, NFPA’s mascot, reminds us, “When an alarm makes noises – a beeping or a chirping sound – you must take action.” Knowing what to do when you hear an alarm sound will help to keep you and your family safe.

Forty-one percent of home fire deaths were the result of not having working smoke alarms. People need to know the importance of having working smoke alarms, knowing where to install them in the home, and how often they should be tested, maintained, and replaced.

Smoke alarms are an essential safety tool for the early detection of fire in the home. Over half of home fire deaths occur when most people are asleep. A working smoke alarm will sound, waking you and your family, making them aware of the danger. Install a smoke alarm inside every bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of the home. There are smoke alarms and alert devices that alert people who are deaf or hard of hearing. These devices include strobe lights that flash to alert people when the smoke alarm sounds. Pillow or bed shakers designed to work with your smoke alarm also can be purchased and installed

Test your smoke alarm each month by pushing the test button on the smoke alarm to ensure they are in working order. If your smoke alarm has replaceable batteries, you should replace them every six months. Replace your smoke alarms batteries when you change your clock. Check the manufacturer date on your smoke alarm(s). If they were manufactured greater than ten years ago or you can not find a manufacture date, the NFPA recommends replacing them.

When a smoke alarm sounds, get out and stay out. If you have children, be sure they know the sound the smoke alarm makes. Creating a family fire safety plan can help prepare your family in the event of a fire. Be sure to include any special considerations for persons with special needs in your family safety plan. Identify two ways out of each room and designate a family meeting place, which should be someplace outside in the front of the home that everyone can get safely.

Practicing a family fire drill will help ensure everyone knows what to do when they hear the sound of the smoke alarm. Practice using two ways out of each room and meet the family meeting place. Call 9-1-1 from a cellphone or neighbor’s phone once you are outside, and stay outside until the fire department tells you it is safe to go back into the home. Accidents happen. Fortunately, when it comes to fire safety, we can do a lot to be prepared and keep our families safe.

▸For more information or help creating your family’s fire safety plan, please visit www.NFPA.org/fpw or contact BSO Public Educator Melanie Brocato at 954-389-2090 or by email Melanie_Brocato@Sheriff.org.