Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Earlier this month 2 families lost their loved ones to a senseless
fire here in Arlington Heights.
Three ladies lost their lives
to fire that which ravaged their home in the middle of the night.
The fire went unnoticed and until the smell of smoke was detected
a staff member in the police department nearby.
In the aftermath the fire it was discovered that there was a smoke
detector in the house.
But there was no battery. In 1974 little girl by the name Katie O'Neill
perished in a house fire in Palatine Illinois. That fire
and her death highlighted for many in the northwest suburbs
the importance of installing smoke detectors in homes. So what are these two
stories have in common?
They both highlight the need for simple fire
security needs. Katie's story highlighted
the need for smoke detectors in homes. In that single event
it highlighted northwest suburbs and created a push
in the early seventies to have
a smoke detectors installed in homes. In the recent
fire here in Arlington Heights that fire highlights the need for those detectors
to continue to work. While smoke detectors were cutting technology in 1974
today they are commonplace and are required in many fire codes
municipalities, such as Arlington Heights.
However too many these battery-operated lifesavers
are not checked on a regular basis for proper operation.
Too often batteries go unchanged
after their useful lives. And too often
lives are lost because people are unwilling
or on able to check their detectors for proper in operation.
So today I propose
the all Arlington Heights citizen adopt a zero-tolerance
for inoperative smoke detectors. Simply put
there's no reason why and install smoke detector
should not be operating. For those of you who can
you should check your smoke detectors immediately
right now in on a regular basis. Make sure that the batteries are properly
installed.
And that the alarm works. It is recommended that
a smoke alarms be changed out every 10 years
for those view however are unable to check your own detectors
for any reason whatsoever, there too high
are you have an inability to get to get to them or your unsure how to do it,
we have an offer for you. We are coordinating
a volunteer crew made up Arlington Heights citizens,
high school students and your own very neighbors
to help change our batteries in your smoke detectors for those of you who are
unable to do it yourselves.
How do you do this?
Simply call Nancy Kluz, our Village Community Relations Coordinator.
She will get you on a schedule. On the Second Saturday each month
beginning in December, volunteers are ready and prepared to go out
and check smoke detectors for those who are unable to check in and their own
behalf.
And the nice thing is this will not cost
a the homeowners a thing. So far we do have a hundred batteries
a volunteered and donated and we hope to
be able to collect donations for even more batteries.
We also hope to expand that to possibly getting
donated a smoke detectors. So simply put this is the Katie Project.
And Katie Project was launched this evening. And what is the Katie Project?
It's pretty simple, we want to put the buzz back into every single detector
here in Arlington Heights.
We wanna make fire safety easy.
Thanks You very much