Firefighters installing free smoke alarms, detectors in homes.

Walkerville Firefighter and EMT Brian Hintz displays the fire safety equipment.
– Contributed photo

Firefighters installing free smoke alarms, detectors in homes.

#OceanaCountyNews

By Allison Scarbrough, Editor.

WALKERVILLE – Home owners in the Walkervile area can receive free smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in their homes thanks to Operation Save A Life.

Operation Save A Life is a national public awareness campaign targeting fire safety and prevention. It’s a partnership between WOTV 4, Kidde Fire Safety, The Home Depot, West Michigan fire departments and ESCAPE Fire Safety.

Walkerville firefighter and EMT Brian Hintz saw an ad about the program while reading a Michigan State Firemen’s Association publication and decided to apply for it for his department, he said.

He was happy to find out that Walkerville was accepted into the program — the first fire department in Oceana County and the department furthest north in the 14-county viewing area.

Because the firefighters visit the homes to install the equipment, it gives them a chance to make contact with residents and discuss fire safety, Hintz said. It also ensures the equipment is properly installed.

The program is for homeowners only – not renters, Hintz said. Land owners are responsible for providing smoke alarms for their renters and can contact the fire department to have them installed.

There should be a smoke alarm on every floor and in every bedroom, Hintz said. There should be one carbon monoxide detector in every home.

The equipment comes in a sealed unit with a lithium battery that has a 10-year life, he said.

Walkerville firefighters started installing the equipment last month and will continue over the next couple of months. They received 50 smoke alarms and 20 carbon monoxide detectors. “We can get more as we run out,” he said.

The acquisition of the equipment came right before fall, which is a high-risk time for house fires when people are turning on their furnaces for the first time in several months. October is Fire Prevention Month.

The equipment is available to everyone in the Walkerville Fire District, which includes the townships of Elbridge, Leavitt and Colfax and the Village of Walkerville. A portion of Newaygo County’s Beaver Township is also included in the district.

Contact the Walkville Area Fire Rescue Facebook page or email brianhintz@ymail.com to get the equipment installed.

“We’re trying to make the community safer,” Hintz said.

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