October is Fire Prevention Month

The North Liberty Volunteer Fire Department is supporting this year’s National Fire Protection Associations theme: Hear the BEEP… where you SLEEP. Every bedroom needs a working smoke alarm.

Smoke alarms that are properly installed and maintained play a vital role in reducing fire deaths and injuries.
Smoke alarms save lives. If there is a fire in your home, smoke spreads fast and you need smoke alarms to give you time to get out. Having a working smoke alarm cuts the chances of dying in a reported fire in half. Almost two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
Here’s what you need to know!

• Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of your home.
• Change the batteries at least once per year
• Test your smoke alarms every month.
• When a smoke alarm sounds, get outside and stay outside.
• Replace all smoke alarms in your home every 10 years
• Replace all Carbon Monoxide detectors in your home every 7 years

Smoke alarms by the numbers

• In 2007-2014, smoke alarms sounded in half of the home fires reported to U.S. fire departments.
• Three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.
• No smoke alarms were present in more than one-third (37%) of the home fire deaths.
• WORKING smoke alarms SAVE LIVES!