RFD implements community smoke detector program

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
If you get a knock on the door and see a Russellville firefighter standing on the porch, don't be alarmed.
The Russellville Fire Department is on a mission to place smoke detectors in each home inside the city limits. So far, the department has placed alarms in 62 homes.
Of those 62 homes, firefighters found that 48 of them had no smoke detectors at all. In others, the detectors needed new batteries.
The effort began about three years ago when the department received funding to provide smoke detectors to some of the city's elderly.
Fire Chief Joe Mansell said the department recently began its recent drive to make sure all city homes had proper alarms.
"We want to visit every home in the city and give each resident an opportunity to receive a smoke detector," Mansell said.
The drive is particularly important to area firefighters in the wake of three fire related deaths in the past year.
"Any time there's a fire, there is smoke that's generated before the fire," Mansell said. "Having a smoke detector could have made a difference in some cases."
A home that burned on July 28 and killed a two-year old girl did not have a smoke detector inside, officials said.
The project is being funded by the city and through a $1,000 donation made by Sen. Roger Bedford.
Mansell said that each detector costs about $6 and he estimates that there are 3,500 to 4,000 homes in the city of Russellville.
"This project will take awhile to do, but it will be ongoing until we visit each home in the city."