The Cumberland County Fire Department will host a Fire Life Safety Preparedness presentation Tuesday to educate residents on emerging fire hazards.
Cumberland County Fire Department Lieutenant Derek Carter said the event will address the proper installation of smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Carter said the presentation will also cover maintenance practices to protect homes from forest fires and safety protocols for lithium-ion batteries.
“We’re going to briefly cover some issues with installing smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms,” Carter said. “We’re going to discuss keeping clean around the house so that you have less of a chance of having a forest fire cause damage to your house. But that’s going to be the focus. And we’re also going to talk about lithium-ion batteries. They’re not going anywhere. They’re becoming more and more utilized in our homes. We’re going to talk about proper practices with those.”
Carter said the department decided to host the event to promote the “Get Alarmed Tennessee” program, which has been credited with saving lives across the state since 2008. Carter said the department wants to increase awareness of carbon monoxide safety and the risks associated with the rising number of forest fires.
“It’s important to understand the different alarms that you can purchase for your home as well as the ones that we install at no cost because alarms act differently in different situations,” Carter said. “And if they’re not properly placed, they may have they may give you a oh man they may give you a delayed alarm. And we want that alarm to sound as soon as possible whether it’s smoke or carbon monoxide and get residents out of their homes so that we can address the problem and take care of business.”
Carter said the presentation will help families determine how many alarms they need and where to place them to ensure a quick response during a late-night emergency. Carter said public education is vital because response times for emergency services can vary depending on where a resident lives in the county.
“Public fire education is very important because we have a response time that can be delayed depending on where you live in the county,” Carter said. “And we need folks to have as much time as possible to get themselves out in case of a fire. And we will be able to respond quickly, but but it could take some time for us to get there and we want folks to be out.”
Carter said the department will highlight resources from the National Fire Protection Association, which sets safety standards for home electronics and alarms. Carter said the presentation will also feature information from the Tennessee State Forestry Firewise program.
“My hope is that folks can learn good information that is reliable so that they can better be be safe in their homes when they sleep at night,” Carter said.
The Fire Life Safety Preparedness presentation is set for Tuesday at 6pm. at the Cumberland County Community Complex.
