Prompted by the fire death of a 5-year-old girl in Southeast, the D.C. Fire Department is knocking on the door of every residence in the city to make sure the homes are equipped with working smoke alarms.
Fire officials began the task this weekend, inspecting 250 homes in Northeast and installing 105 fire alarms to houses where no alarms were found.
Fire department spokesman Alan Etter said they hoped to have all the city’s 250,000 homes checked within a year. D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray obtained $25,000 for the initiative, which fire officials estimate will cost $300,000. Smoke alarm companies have donated some of the alarms, and fire officials are looking for volunteers to help.
Gray started the initiative after 5-year-old Asia Sutton died in April in a fire in her home in the 3400 block of Minnesota Avenue SE. Fire officials were unable to tell whether the alarm in Asia’s home worked.
“Having a smoke alarm in your home is great,” D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said, “but it has to be installed properly and maintained.”
Smoke alarms with recorded voice messages were given to homes where children lived. The alarm allows a parent to record a personalized message that calls the child’s name to alert the child of a fire. The 15-second message is replayed, alternating with the siren sound.
Studies have shown that a familiar voice is 99 percent effective in waking children, as opposed to the 57 percent effectiveness of a standard beeping alarm, fire officials said.
