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| FP&S Success Stories |
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| Wildlife Refuge and can be reached only by small aircraft. During November and December of 2004, Huslia's Volunteer Fire Department visited every occupied home in the community and completed a Home Fire Safety check. Firefighters found many of the homes did not have smoke alarms or any other fire safety equipment. While in the home, the firefighters educated the residents about fire prevention and installed various types of fire prevention and fire safety equipment, such as Fire Shield surge strips, kitchen timers, water temperature test cards, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, fire extinguishers, fire escape ladders, and under-the-hood kitchen fire extinguishers. The equipment will help prevent fires and alert residents if there is a fire so that they can escape harm. "I am glad that we were able to help these families out as some of them had no fire prevention in their homes," says Huslia firefighter and project manager Elsie Vent. A Program Save--Ester Volunteer Fire Department. One fire safety inspection and one smoke alarm provided as a result of Fire Prevention Grant project funding was responsible for saving the life of a woman in rural Alaska. In fall of 2004, the Ester Volunteer Fire Department conducted safety inspections and installed smoke alarms and other safety equipment as part of the Alaska Home Fire Safety Improvement Project. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (February 17, 2005) published an account of the incident. In fall of 2004, Lt. Kris Chandler, an Ester VFD firefighter, visited Ruby Graham, a woman who had requested a home fire safety inspection. The woman admitted that she had owned a smoke alarm before but removed the batteries because the alarm would start when she was cooking. Lt. Chandler conducted the inspection and installed a new smoke alarm, making sure it was far enough away from the kitchen that cooking could not accidentally trigger the alarm. In February 2005, the smoke alarm went off in the middle of the night, awakening Graham. The News-Miner reported that Graham, seeing smoke, put on coat and shoes, picked up her dog, and ran outside. She woke up a neighbor and asked them to call 911. Before the fire department could arrive, the fire had totally destroyed the house. Although she lost her house, which was uninsured, Graham was grateful to be alive and credits the smoke alarm with saving her life. In addition to the Ester VFD, four other fire departments in the Fairbanks North Star Borough have been participating in the Home Fire Safety project: Chena-Goldstream Fire Rescue, Fairbanks Fire Department, North Star Volunteer Fire Department (North Pole), and Steese Volunteer Fire Department (Fairbanks). With the grant funds, these fire departments have been able to provide both fire protection and home fire safety inspections to communities in the Borough, which includes the cities of Fairbanks and North Pole and the surrounding rural areas; it covers about 7,300 square miles and is home to more than 80,000 people. What They Bought With The Grant: |
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