"I heard about the family that died in the fire on Iranistan Avenue," said Smith, recalling they did not have smoke alarms. "I went by the house and saw the flowers left in their memory."

Smith, a mother of two children and studying to be a nurse, said she felt more secure after smoke alarms were installed in her third-floor apartment at no cost by AmeriCorps volunteers, working for Safe Homes, a program of the Regional Adult Youth Substance Abuse Project.

"I was very thankful to have one of the smoke alarms installed in my apartment," Margaret Blagys, a resident of Bridgeport Garden Apartments, on Rowsley Street, said. "We have quite a few of them in our complex."

Hattie Flood, a resident of Burnsford Avenue, said she felt more comfortable after three smoke alarms were installed in her home, because she is caring for her 5-year-old grandson.

Steve Pereira, Safe Homes manager, said about 1,400 free smoke alarms have been installed in homes throughout the city in the past couple of months in the wake of the Iranistan Avenue fire that claimed the life of Thi Luong Thach, 35, and her three children, Hoang Anh, 14; Thi My Trinh, 11; and Daisey, 2.

Thach's husband, Rinh Thach, 37, who suffered severe lung damage, survived following a lengthy stay at Bridgeport Hospital. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

"If we can get smoke alarms in each of the city's 23,000 dwellings, we can significantly decrease property damage, injuries and deaths from fires," Pereira said. "Other programs give the alarms away, and the people may not put them up. We install them to make sure they are used."

Pereira said he began working for Safe Homes installing smoke alarms in 1994, but the campaign to put them in every city home went into overdrive when the city received a grant last year to provide the free alarms.

He said he has been involved with billboards, placing fliers on cars, special mailings, church announcements and notices in variety stores to invite residents to have the free alarms installed in their homes.

The smoke alarms from Safe Homes feature lithium batteries with a 10-year life, making them more reliable than older types with nine-volt batteries that might last a year. The new alarms also have a button to allow a resident to silence them for about 15 minutes if a smoke can be cleared and firefighters are not needed.

Dianne Auger, executive director of the American Red Cross of Southeastern Fairfield County, has developed an educational component on fire prevention and safety for city students in grades kindergarten through five to assist the smoke alarm campaign.

Teachers will have special "Masters of Disaster" lesson plans prepared by the Red Cross to use with their regular curriculum in coming months, Auger said.

The lessons will stress recognizing fire hazards, the need for an escape plan, and the value of having smoke alarms.

Brian Rooney, provisional fire chief, said the four Thach family members who died were among eight city residents whose lives were claimed by fire in the first half of 2005, including one on State Street and three on Colorado Avenue.

None of these people had the benefit of smoke alarms to tell them to leave their homes when fire broke out, Rooney said.

Even before these fatal fires, he said he was involved in 2004 on behalf of the Fire Department in applying for a federal grant to provide smoke alarms.

A $135,000 grant the Fire Department received from the Federal Emergency Management Administration last May included money for purchase of 4,000 smoke alarms for Safe Homes to install, Rooney said. Money left from another grant was allocated for an additional 1,800 alarms, he added.

Anticipating the need for additional alarms, Rooney said the city has applied to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control for another $135,000 grant that would provide 5,500 more.

The new grant, he explained, would also cover administrative costs, as does the current one.

The chief said people should not believe they can wake up when a fire starts without help from a smoke alarm, because smoke will only lull them into a deeper sleep. If they do awaken, they may be overcome by smoke and collapse, he added.

While the city is haunted by reports of residents who died in fires because they lacked smoke alarms, there have been many other instances in which the alarms saved lives.

Smoke alarms were credited with helping 10 people escape without injury Jan. 4 from an early morning fire in a two-family home on Brewster Street.

After their alarm sounded, five residents fled unharmed from their apartment on Fairfield Avenue Dec. 4.

To arrange for the installation of a free smoke alarm, call RYASAP at 335-8835.