By WMBD TV
NORMAL, Ill. (WMBD) — The Normal Fire Department is offering free fire alarm replacements and checking your current ones ahead of the holiday season.
“They can get free smoke alarms just by letting us know we’ll come out and install them free of charge,” said Matt Swaney, public information officer for the Normal Fire Department.
“Even if you have smoke alarms and you’re not sure if they’re working. We can come out and test them and make sure they work.”
Normal residents are able to reach out to the NFD or fill out the form on their website, and they will come out to your home and replace them for free.
They replace them with 10-year batteries, meaning you will never need to change the battery, and you will only need to replace the system after 10 years.
“We’re installing 10-year lithium-ion battery-powered smoke alarms that never need a battery change in their entire life. Once the 10-year battery runs out, you just replace the whole unit. You never have to change it every six months, but we still want you to test it and make sure it works,” Swaney said.
With the holiday season coming up and an increase in cooking and home fires, NFD wants to make sure everyone has working alarms in their home to give them that extra time in case of an emergency.
“We don’t want the inability to buy a battery or the inability to pay for an alarm to be the reason why you don’t have them in your homes,” Swaney said. “They sit up there on the ceiling, and they just kind of get forgotten after a while.”
“We want to make sure that everybody has good working alarms, especially as we head into our busy season here in the holidays. It’s a simple, simple device that can truly save your life. If there is a fire, it gives you those extra few seconds that you can get out of the house before the smoke gets too toxic.”
The smoke alarms come from two different programs through the Illinois State Fire Safety Alliance and the Red Cross. They both provide these alarms to the department free of charge, and they pass those same savings along to residents of Normal.
The hope is to continue the program for as long as possible.
“This program is going as long as we can keep it going. If you need a smoke alarm or you need your alarms checked in your home, please reach out to us,” Swaney said.
WMBD TV can be reached at News@WJBC.com.
