Fire Departments giving away free smoke alarms

JACKSON, Tenn — It is the single most important thing to survive a fire.

A fire in Memphis claiming the lives of nine people including six children has fire officials going the extra mile to make sure it does not happen anywhere else.

This year Madison County has given away more than 800 free smoke detectors as a part of a state wide initiative.

“It’s a statewide grant that’s taking place in almost all of the departments and you call your local fire department and they will come out and install that smoke detector for you,” said Madison County Fire Chief Eric Turner.

You can find it also taking place in Humboldt.

“If you have five rooms we will put up five smoke detectors because they have been proven to save lives,” said Humboldt Fire Chief Chester Owens. “There’s nothing you can do putting out the fire yourself so the first thing you need to do is get out, and if you have children we want you to talk with your children and have an escape route.”

Fire officials said smoke alarms will cut a persons chances of dying in a fire by 50 percent, but Madison County Fire Marshal Don Friddle said there is more you can do.

“People need to plan ahead, how they are going to get out of their home in case the alarm might activate. Two ways out of every room.”

If you find yourself trapped experts say your best bet is to get down on the ground and crawl to safety. If not, stay down close to the ground until someone can come and rescue you.”

“Your best chance of having good clean air is staying very close to the floor level,” said Friddle, “We recommend people crawl low underneath the smoke and get as low as you possibly can.”

It is a device that has a proven record of saving lives.

“We hear it all the time. People tell us the only reason they got out of the fire is because the smoke alarm woke them up,” said Fire Marshal Friddle.

To find out how to receive a free smoke detector for your home, visit the “Seen on 7” section.