FDNY- Smoke Detectors and Senior Citizens

Published: October 31, 2014

New Senior Citizen Smoke Alarm Installation Campaign Announced as Department Urges New Yorkers to Change their Smoke Alarm Batteries for the End of Daylight Saving Time

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro speaks to the crowd about the importance of fire safety.

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro visited the quarters of Engine 95/Ladder 36 on Oct. 31 to remind all New Yorkers to change the batteries in their smoke and carbon monoxide detectors when they change their clocks for the end of Daylight Saving Time, as well as announce a new fire safety effort in all five boroughs.

For the Department's newly launched Senior Citizens Alarm Installation Campaign, members from the FDNY's Fire Safety Education Unit will hold fire safety presentations and visit homes to conduct fire safety reviews and install smoke/carbon monoxide and hard-of-hearing alarms in neighborhoods identified as most vulnerable to fire.

Adults aged 65 or older, who, while representing only 17 percent of the population, comprised 40 percent of fire deaths in New York City in 2013.

Members of the FDNY's Fire Safety Education Unit spoke to numerous people about how to stay fire safe.

The Senior Citizens Alarm Installation Campaign is funded by a $686,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency secured with the support of New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

“We know the more people we can reach with the message of fire safety, the more fires we can prevent, and the more lives we can save,“Commissioner Nigro said.
Throughout the weekend, New Yorkers also will have the opportunity to interact with the FDNY Fire Safety Education Unit and to learn potentially life-saving lessons in fire safety. They also will distribute 25,000 batteries, electronic candles and fire safety literature in multiple languages at 16 locations in all five boroughs.

Smoke detectors and batteries have been generously donated to the FDNY Foundation by Duracell, Kidde and First Alert.