Recognizing the need for improved education and awareness about home fire safety, the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), with support from its Fire and Life Safety Section (FLSS), is partnering with Kidde to provide education and resources to fire departments and their communities about smoke alarm placement in the home. Kidde is a leading manufacturer of residential fire safety products, and a business of UTC Fire & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX)
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), nearly two-thirds of home fire deaths in 2009 occurred in residences without working smoke alarms. While home fire fatalities and injuries have decreased by 56 percent in the past 30 years, more than 2,000 people still die in residential fires each year.
“It’s wonderful to have so much discussion surrounding home fire safety and smoke alarms, but there’s a lot of conflicting information out there,” said Chief Jack Parow, president and chairman of the board of the IAFC. “As fire service leaders, we are the ones who educate the public because they trust our counsel. If we want to make sure the public is adequately informed about their options in home fire safety, we need to first ensure the fire service is well-educated.”
Through this partnership, IAFC and Kidde will provide an online toolkit for fire chiefs, fire officials, and public fire educators with materials to educate themselves and their communities about the different types of residential smoke alarms available in the market. Also provided will be recommendations on where to place alarms based on different features including power supplies, tamper resistance, and how the alarms react to normal conditions in the home and the early stages of fire development. The toolkit will offer fact sheets and studies, discussion points and template educational materials.
“Kidde wants to ensure that every family is properly protected in the event of a residential fire,” said Chris Rovenstine, vice president of sales and marketing for Kidde. “By partnering with the IAFC, we can help educate fire officials who will then educate their communities.”
The toolkit will be available to fire officials this summer on the IAFC website.