By Tamela Staples

The City of Troy Fire Department is partnering with the Alabama Fire College and Alabama State Fire Marshals to bring free smoke detectors to Pike County to help with the climbing rates of fire fatalities.

“I am not sure of the exact numbers, but we have had an increase in fire fatalities recently (in the United States) and we want to help” said Troy Fire Chief Michael Stephens.

Stephens said the program is being done at a statewide level to address the national increase in fire fatalities; he said Troy has only had two fire fatalities in the last decade.

Alabama has seen 31 fire fatalities since the beginning of this year, according to data from www.firemarshal.alabama.gov.

Of those 31 fatalities, 20 of the victims were known not to have active smoke alarms in their homes. Only two victims are known for certain to have had a working smoke detector in place.

Stephens said smoke detectors can be a crucial factor to alerting residents to the presence of fire or smoke within their homes.

“It’s good for when you’re sleeping, but even if you’re on the other side of the house during the day, you may not know a fire has started without a smoke alarm,” Stephens said.

The program will provide free installation of the devices to any resident living in Troy.

“This is a program that was designed to help everyone within the Troy City Fire jurisdiction,” Stephens said, meaning there is no limit on the amount of smoke detectors that the fire department will give out.

“It is unlimited, but that could change; one call to the Alabama Fire College and we could get more – but, for now, they are unlimited,” Stephens said.

This offer is not reserved for any certain group of people, Stephens said. This will be for anyone in the City of Troy who is without a proper smoke detector.

“This is not for certain people; if you do not have a working smoke detector, call 334-566-5943, and we will come install a free one,” Stephens said.

Stephens said that the Alabama Fire College and State Fire Marshals plan to continue giving out free detectors.

“The Troy Fire Department will do its best to make this an ongoing event for our city,” Stephens said. “We just want to get the word out and prevent further fatalities from happening.”

Stephens asks members of the community to cooperate and be understanding as they work to install the smoke detectors.

“People are calling and we ask them to be patient,” Stephens said. “We are sending out guys to install the smoke detectors and responding to emergency calls. If we do not come out, it’s not because we didn’t want to – we just couldn’t. If we have a date set and we miss it, we will call and reschedule.”