Willingboro Township Residents: Hear the Beep Where You Sleep. Every Bedroom Needs a Working Smoke Alarm!

Location matters when it comes to your smoke alarm. That’s the message behind this year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign, “Hear the Beep Where You Sleep. Every Bedroom Needs a Working Smoke Alarm!”

Along with firefighters and safety advocates nationwide, the Willingboro Fire Department is joining forces with the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) during Fire Prevention Week, October 4-10, to remind local residents about the importance of having working smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of the home, including the basement.

In a fire, seconds count. Half of home fire deaths result from fires reported at night between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. when most people are asleep. Home smoke alarms can alert people to a fire before it spreads, giving everyone enough time to get out.

According to the latest NFPA research, working smoke alarms cut the chance of dying in a fire in half. Meanwhile, three out of five fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.

This year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign includes the following smoke alarm messages:

•Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each separate sleeping area and on every level of the home, including the basement.

•Interconnect all smoke alarms throughout the home. This way, when one sounds, they all do.

•Test alarms at least monthly by pushing the test button.

•Replace all smoke alarms when they are 10 years old or sooner if they don’t respond properly.

•Make sure everyone in the home knows the sound of the smoke alarm and understands what to do when they hear it.

•If the smoke alarm sounds, get outside and stay outside. Go to your outside meeting place.

•Call the fire department from outside the home.

The Willingboro Fire Department provides free smoke detectors to the residents of Willingboro. The department has a number of smoke detectors that we will install in your home for you. There are several ways that you can receive free smoke detectors:

1. Stop by or call Fire Headquarters at JFK and Charleston Road, (609) 871-7476 to schedule an appointment for us to install them for you.

2. Stop by our display at any township event to schedule an appointment for us to install them for you.

3. Click on the request link at the bottom of the "Smoke Detector" page in the "Public" section of our website (www.WillingboroFire.org). Complete the form and someone will contact you so that you can schedule an appointment for us to install them for you.

The Willingboro Fire Department To learn more about smoke alarms and “Hear the Beep Where You Sleep. Every Bedroom Needs a Working Smoke Alarm!” visit NFPA’s Web site at www.firepreventionweek.org and www.sparky.org/fpw.