Teaching the Importance of Smoke Alarms

National Fire Prevention Week is this week. The goal this year is to educate people on the importance of smoke alarms.

Each year fire prevention week is held to educate people on different aspects of staying safe from fire. This year the theme is testing your smoke alarms. Dean Brocklehurst of the Zanesville Fire Department said you need to test your smoke alarms once a month. He added it is recommended to change the batteries in the alarms twice a year and replace the entire alarm every ten years. 

"Ideally, you would want a smoke alarm in every bedroom, and outside of every sleeping quarter," Brocklehurst said. "In the basement and on every level of the house."

Educating kids on fire prevention is the main goal that fire prevention week as adopted through the years, and the Zanesville Fire Department continues that goal through the entire year by taking its mobile, smoke house unit to schools.

"You get them thinking about this and the smoke house is great with that because it shows them what happens when your house catches on fire and what to do, and how easy that can happen, so a lot of it sticks with the kids, and they get a lot out of it," Brocklehurst said.

The smoke house is a fire simulator that teaches kids the proper way to escape from a burning home.