Smoke detector program credited with saving families

By Keila Torres
STAFF WRITER
Updated: 07/13/2009 11:46:27 PM EDT

BRIDGEPORT -- A Cityview Avenue family credits a free smoke detector for alerting them to an early-morning fire Monday, rousing them from sleep and helping them to escape their home unscathed.

Firefighters stationed at the Central Avenue station were alerted to a basement fire just after 2 a.m. Monday at 37-39 Cityview Ave. The seven adults and four children living in the two-family home were already safely outside when firefighters arrived.

"They informed us the smoke alarms installed in their homes last year -- in July 2008 -- alerted them and awoke them. And they managed to leave the building safely," said Deputy Chief Robert Petrucelli.

The Safe Homes program, run by Safe Neighborhoods AmeriCorps Partnership in Bridgeport, has installed more than 18,500 smoke detectors in the city at no charge to homeowners since it began four years ago.

Petrucelli said the family was awakened to the sound of the alarms and the smell of smoke. The fire seemed to have begun near the furnace in the basement, but the cause is still under investigation.

The Mid-Fairfield County Chapter of the American Red Cross, a partner in the free smoke detector program, has found temporary shelter for the families, possibly because of a fear that wiring in the basement could reignite, Petrucelli said.

AmeriCorps has been "inundated" with phone calls inquiring about the smoke alarms, Petrucelli said.

A benefit of the "Safe Asleep" program is that anyone living in a residential building, regardless of income or even citizenship status, can receive a free smoke alarm, said James Wilkinson, director of emergency services for the local Red Cross.

The purpose is to ensure that city families are safe, he said. "If they determine that the house needs four or five or six, they'll install four or five or six," Wilkinson added.

To receive free smoke detectors through the city's "Safe Asleep" program, which also installs the detectors at no cost, call 335-8835.