COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- October is Fire Safety Month, and as the month winds down, the Colerain Township Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services and the Red Cross took to the streets Saturday to install smoke detectors for some residents free of charge.
"This is our fifth year," said Colerain Township Fire Chief Robert Rielage about the event. "We've done four other neighborhoods in Colerain Township and now we are doing two more..."
According to the National Fire Protection Agency, out of 100 house fires, the death rate for homes without working smoke detectors was over twice as high as homes with working smoke detectors.
Properly working smoke detectors are also more important now than in years past. According to Rielage, thanks in part to certain types of materials used in home furnishings, the average time needed to escape a house fire has decreased from 10 minutes 25 years ago, to three minutes now.
The department hopes that by being proactive about fire safety and making sure smoke detectors are working properly, residents will be alerted to a fire sooner so they can get out faster.
"Just overnight, in the city of Springboro, they had seven people that safely evacuated the home by having working smoke alarms," said Rielage. "Every time we come up on a fire, the first thing we want to hear is that beeping smoke alarm... because that has told us, that 99 percent of the time, everybody has gotten out."
