OCALA FIRE RESCUE

Serving Since 1885

M E D I A    R E L E A S E
Contact: Brian Stoothoff, Public Information Officer Ocala Fire Rescue
Office: 352-629-8306 ▪ Cell: 352-266-8590 ▪ E-mail: bstoothoff@ocalafl.org

OCALA FIRE RESCUE SMOKE ALARM PROGRAM SUSPENDED

FOR THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
Immediate Release

OCALA, Fla. (Nov. 24, 2010) – Ocala Fire Rescue’s pilot door-to-door smoke alarm program
(Smoke Alarms for Escape) fired up on Friday, Nov. 19. Five days, 316 smoke alarms and
1,188 homes later, the department has run out of smoke alarms just before Thanksgiving. But
the program isn’t smoldering. OFR expects to receive a new shipment of alarms and be back
on the road by next Wednesday.

Citizens are more than 70 percent more likely to escape a house fire if they have working
smoke alarms. Ocala Fire Rescue has provided free smoke alarms to Ocala citizens through
the SAFE program. But this year, OFR firefighters are taking the program on the road and
going door to door to check on each home’s smoke alarms. Firefighters provide alarms or
batteries, depending on what the home needs. If no one is home, firefighters leave a door-
hanger to remind citizens to make an appointment for Ocala Fire Rescue to come and test their
existing smoke alarm or install a new smoke alarm.

In less than a week, the highly successful program has meant hundreds of new alarms and
batteries for previously unsafe homes and more than 1,000 personal reminders to Ocala
citizens to ensure they have working smoke alarms.

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