North Madison Fire would like to remind all residents to change the batteries in their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Taking this simple step can save the lives of you and your family.

Many fatal fires occur at night while the victims are sleeping. A working smoke alarm can double the chances of survival by increasing the amount of time a person has to escape a fire in their home. Fire safety is as simple as making a habit of changing your smoke detector batteries when the time changes in spring and fall.

Remember these tips about smoke alarms:

Have smoke alarms on every level of your home, especially outside sleeping areas—and preferably inside bedrooms as well.

Test them at least once a month

Replace all detectors after 10 years.

Place smoke alarms according to manufacturer’s directions.

Clean the outside ONLY of a smoke alarm by gently going over the cover with the brush attachment of your vacuum cleaner. Never paint a smoke alarm.

Whenever a smoke alarm beeps, take it seriously. It might just be a false alarm from cooking, temperature changes, or dust—but you can’t afford to ignore the alert. Everyone in the family needs to react immediately.

Develop and practice a home escape plan. Make sure your family knows two ways out of each room, a safe meeting place outside, how to call 9-1-1 once they’re out, and why they should NEVER go back into a burning house.

There are 10,300 fires during the three-day period around Halloween. These fires cause about 25 deaths, 125 injuries and $83 million in property loss.

North Madison Fire would like to help our community  be safer during Halloween by sharing a few fire safety tips with our residents:

• Choose a costume without long trailing fabric. This can cause a child to trip or may touch flames in jack-o’-lanterns or other decorations.
• If you make your own costume, use materials that won’t catch on fire easily if they come in contact with heat or flame.
• Give your children flashlights or glow sticks so they can see where they are walking.
• Keep decorations away from candles, light bulbs or heaters.
• Consider using flameless candles or glow sticks in your jack-o’-lantern.
• Keep exits clear of decorations.

For more information about Halloween fires and fire safety, check out the U.S. Fire Administration’s website, where you can find Halloween social media cards to share and the Halloween fire data snapshot.

North Madison Fire would like to extend a big thanks to all of the residents and visitors who attended this year’s open house, it was a great success! Photos from the todays events will be available later this week. We would like to see some of your photos, please send them our way!

Gabe.Balsamo@nmvfc.org

Bedroom Burn Box 2015

Do you know how old your smoke alarms are? Like many products you use on a daily basis, smoke alarms don’t last forever. Manufacturers recommend that you replace them every 10 years. To check the date your smoke alarm was made, look at the back of the alarm or inside the battery compartment. If it’s time to replace your alarms, consider buying ones with ten-year lithium batteries.

For more information on smoke alarms, the U.S. Fire Administration .

As part of our annual fund drive we mail out a request for donations and this year was no different. Unfortunately, due to technical issue, many of you may have received an envelope that was improperly addressed. On behalf of the entire company I would like to apologize for inconvenience or confusion this may have caused and assure you that we are working diligently to correct it. We hope to have it resolved shortly.  You may open the letter and donate if you wish by mail or on our secure website. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at:  Chief@NMVFC.org

-Chief MacMillan

Fund Drive Letter:

“Smoke alarms save lives. If there is a fire in your home, smoke spreads fast and you need smoke alarms to give you time to get out. Having a working smoke alarm cuts the chances of dying in a reported fire in half. Almost two-thirds of home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms.

• Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of your home.
• Test your smoke alarms every month.
• Replace batteries every six months.
• When a smoke alarm sounds, get outside and stay outside.
• Replace all smoke alarms in your home every 10 years

The key message of this year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign, October 4-10, is to install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each separate sleeping area, and on every level of your home, including the basement. Larger homes may need more alarms.”

For more info please vist the National Fire Prevention Agency