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The Independent > Archives > News > Local > Time to check smoke detectors, detectors for deaf to be available soon
If you have smoke detectors, it's time to check the batteries.
If you don't have smoke detectors, it's time to get them.
Sunday is the end of daylight saving time and the 24th anniversary of the "Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery" program sponsored nationally by Energizer batteries and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
This is a time across the country when firefighters encourage a quick check to ensure that life-saving smoke detectors are operational.
In Grand Island, firefighter/paramedic Jared Stockwell has been using his days off to check batteries in more than 3,000 smoke detectors he helped install as part of the Grand Island Fire Department's Smoke Detector Program.
That program began in 2010 with a $91,395 Homeland Security grant for fire prevention and safety. The city provided a $10,000 match for the grant with about a $5,600 grant from the Heartland United Way and with donated funds.
The money was used to buy about 3,700 smoke detectors with a 10-year life and 10-year batteries. The detectors went first to mobile homes and then to homes with residents 65 or older.
Stockwell pursued the grant after having been a first responder to Capital Mobile Home Park in January 2009 to a fire that killed Sherry Fieldgrove and Lawrence Edward Thompson.
Following that fire, Stockwell and other volunteers surveyed Grand Island mobile home residents and found that less than 4 percent had an adequate number of working smoke detectors located in the proper places.
Stockwell said even mobile homes that come with manufacturer-installed detectors often don't have enough -- there should be one in every bedroom, in halls outside bedrooms and on every level -- and they many times they are improperly hung low on walls.
Smoke detectors should be on the ceiling or as high on walls as possible within four to 12 inches of the ceiling and about four inches away from corners.
A stipulation of the grant was to recheck the detectors and batteries after the first year, Stockwell said.
"We go back to see if they are still installed and working correctly," he said.
At Samantha Gibson's home on Roush Lane, Stockwell stopped in this week to test batteries and to install two more detectors in bedrooms.
"I think it's actually awesome because I can't actually afford these myself," she said of the detectors.
Down the street in the next block, Stockwell stopped at Lorie Motley's home, also to install an additional smoke detector in a bedroom.
"I have three kids and I want them to be safe," Motley said as she watched the detector go up.
More than 300 mobile home residents and more than 400 elderly people age 65 or older have received smoke detectors from the Grand Island Fire Department in the past 12 to 18 months.
Most homes need three to four detectors, or more, to be properly equipped, Stockwell said.
He is now working on getting another grant to purchase smoke detectors for deaf and hard-of-hearing residents. They flash lights and shake bedsides to awaken residents, Stockwell said.
The Fire Department will have limited numbers of the deaf and hard-of-hearing detectors available, but still has regular detectors available as well.
To acquire any of the detectors, or for questions on proper detector installation, contact the Grand Island Fire Department at 385-5444, ext. 220.
If you have smoke detectors, it's time to check the batteries.
If you don't have smoke detectors, it's time to get them.
Sunday is the end of daylight saving time and the 24th anniversary of the "Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery" program sponsored nationally by Energizer batteries and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
This is a time across the country when firefighters encourage a quick check to ensure that life-saving smoke detectors are operational.
In Grand Island, firefighter/paramedic Jared Stockwell has been using his days off to check batteries in more than 3,000 smoke detectors he helped install as part of the Grand Island Fire Department's Smoke Detector Program.
That program began in 2010 with a $91,395 Homeland Security grant for fire prevention and safety. The city provided a $10,000 match for the grant with about a $5,600 grant from the Heartland United Way and with donated funds.
The money was used to buy about 3,700 smoke detectors with a 10-year life and 10-year batteries. The detectors went first to mobile homes and then to homes with residents 65 or older.
Stockwell pursued the grant after having been a first responder to Capital Mobile Home Park in January 2009 to a fire that killed Sherry Fieldgrove and Lawrence Edward Thompson.
Following that fire, Stockwell and other volunteers surveyed Grand Island mobile home residents and found that less than 4 percent had an adequate number of working smoke detectors located in the proper places.
Stockwell said even mobile homes that come with manufacturer-installed detectors often don't have enough -- there should be one in every bedroom, in halls outside bedrooms and on every level -- and they many times they are improperly hung low on walls.
Smoke detectors should be on the ceiling or as high on walls as possible within four to 12 inches of the ceiling and about four inches away from corners.
A stipulation of the grant was to recheck the detectors and batteries after the first year, Stockwell said.
"We go back to see if they are still installed and working correctly," he said.
At Samantha Gibson's home on Roush Lane, Stockwell stopped in this week to test batteries and to install two more detectors in bedrooms.
"I think it's actually awesome because I can't actually afford these myself," she said of the detectors.
Down the street in the next block, Stockwell stopped at Lorie Motley's home, also to install an additional smoke detector in a bedroom.
"I have three kids and I want them to be safe," Motley said as she watched the detector go up.
More than 300 mobile home residents and more than 400 elderly people age 65 or older have received smoke detectors from the Grand Island Fire Department in the past 12 to 18 months.
Most homes need three to four detectors, or more, to be properly equipped, Stockwell said.
He is now working on getting another grant to purchase smoke detectors for deaf and hard-of-hearing residents. They flash lights and shake bedsides to awaken residents, Stockwell said.
The Fire Department will have limited numbers of the deaf and hard-of-hearing detectors available, but still has regular detectors available as well.
To acquire any of the detectors, or for questions on proper detector installation, contact the Grand Island Fire Department at 385-5444, ext. 220.