Dowagiac Department of Public Safety Director Tom Atkinson encourages residents to review this helpful information provided by the U.S. Fire Administration, a division of FEMA.

It offers timely information for maintaining properly-functioning smoke alarms.
Smoke alarms: on-call 24/7 ONLY when properly maintained.

Summertime means cookouts, vacations and family time, but as you are well aware, the risk of fire is always present and does not discriminate based on day, time, place or person.

If conditions are right for a fire, it will happen.

Are residents prepared with properly installed and maintained smoke alarms?

A properly installed and maintained smoke alarm is the only thing in your home that can alert you and your family to a fire 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Whether you’re awake or asleep, a working smoke alarm is constantly on alert, scanning the air for fire and smoke. The USFA now recommends that every residence and place where people sleep be equipped with:

• Both ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms OR

• Dual sensor smoke alarms, which contain both ionization and photoelectric smoke sensors.

Residents are encouraged to have smoke detectors professionally installed to insure they will work when needed.

If your smoke alarm was installed before June 2000, it needs to be replaced!

An important part of maintaining a smoke alarm includes replacing it after 10 years of service.

It’s a fact: all hardwired or battery-operated smoke alarms, installed before June 2000 should be replaced now – July 2010!
Be sure to tell everyone you know that the few minutes it takes to replace a smoke alarm can save the lives of roommates, family members, neighbors and yes, the men and women of the fire service.
If you have additional topics that you would like included in future editions of Safety Corner, please contact Patty Klug at the Dowagiac Police Department at 782-9743, ext. 301.