Smoke alarms are the theme for this year's Fire Prevention Week, October 4-10.
Less than half the approximately 36,000 respondents to an NFPA survey said they did not know that a smoke alarm should be installed in each bedroom.
The NFPA decided to focus their efforts on smoke alarm education, and created the slogan: "Hear the Beep Where You Sleep: Every Bedroom Needs a Working Smoke Alarm."
“While we’ve long suspected that many people don’t know they need a smoke alarm in each bedroom, the questionnaire we posted last year confirmed those suspicions,” said Lorraine Carli, NFPA’s vice president of Outreach and Advocacy. “Fire Prevention Week presents the perfect opportunity to better educate the public about this potentially life-saving message.”
Half of all U.S. home fire deaths occur at night, between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., according to the NFPA.
“Because fires can happen when people are sleeping, having working smoke alarms in bedrooms is a critical element of home fire safety,” Carli said. “Smoke alarms can make the difference between life and death in a fire by alerting people in time to escape safely, but they need to be installed in all the required locations, including all bedrooms, and they need to be working.”
You can find out more about this year's Fire Prevention Week at: www.firepreventionweek.org.
