ORANGE — It’s a story heard too often: a fatal fire happens in a home without a working smoke detector.
The Orange Fire Department is teaming up with the American Red Cross to install free smoke detectors for residents on Saturday, Dec. 1, but residents should sign up by the end of the day on Friday.
The Orange Fire Department is recommending that any alarms more than 10 years old be replaced. There is no age or income restrictions to have a new smoke detector installed for free.
In the last seven months, Orange has seen two fatal fires in homes without a working smoke detector. Improper disposal of smoking materials was also cited as a factor in both fires.
On April 30, a 79-year old woman was killed in a fire at 38 Glenwood Ave., and on Oct. 19, a disabled woman was killed at her 43 West Main St. home, which had no smoke or carbon monoxide detectors working.
After the Oct. 19 fire, State Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey remarked that making sure homes have a working smoke detector before the winter, when fires become more frequent, is “crucial.”
“With all the plastics and foams in today’s homes, we have only one to three minutes to escape a fire once the smoke alarm warns of danger, unlike the 12 to 15 minutes we had 30 or 40 years ago,” Ostroskey said.
According to Fire Chief James Young, Orange has had too many fires in the last few years and, in nearly every case, there were no smoke detectors that could have given the residents an early warning to get out.
To register for Orange’s free smoke detector program, call the Fire Department at 978-544-3145 by the end of the day Friday. The station is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.