Maconites get new smoke alarms, fire safety tips

Walter Ridley was surprised when a fire truck and three other fire department vehicles pulled up to his home — and even more so when a squadron of firefighters knocked on his door to ask if they could go in and check his smoke alarms.

Ridley obliged, and the firefighters installed and tested two new alarms in Ridley’s Villa Avenue home — one in the hallway and another in a bedroom.

When asked about the last time he had replaced his smoke alarms, he let out a sigh and said it’d been “years.”

Firefighters stopped at Ridley’s house and at other residences within Macon-Bibb County on Oct. 9 to install new alarms and share safety information as part of Fire Prevention Week. The yearly event, held in the U.S. and Canada, is sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association.

The fire department partnered with the American Red Cross to knock on about a hundred doors in Macon’s Bellevue neighborhood. In addition to new alarms, Red Cross volunteers distributed handouts with prevention tips and other information.

Firefighters checked smoke alarms, concentrating on ones near sleeping areas and in second stories, and installed new alarms — with 10 years of battery power — if needed.

Red Cross volunteers and fire department officials last conducted an operation like this in the Macon area in 2018.

“We’ve had quite a few fires in this general neighborhood — and, also, the age of the houses creates a situation where you need to be more aware,” said Virgil Watkins Jr., a Red Cross community disaster program manager and former county commissioner.

Fire Prevention Week started Oct. 5. This year’s focus was on safe use of devices powered by lithium-ion batteries. Those batteries power common devices like smartphones — and one safety tip provided by Jeremy Webb, the Macon-Bibb fire and life safety educator, is to avoid charging those devices on non-solid surfaces.

As part of local festivities, the fire department also provided scholarships for an essay contest held at Macon Mall and set up presences at the Georgia National Fair and at local eateries like Firehouse Subs and Texas Roadhouse.

Webb said prevention and community education efforts aren’t just limited to the annual Fire Prevention Week observation. He urged the public to check their smoke alarms — even those with a supposed long battery life — and make sure they have a plan in case of a fire.

“We hope that people have working smoke alarms and fire escape plans,” Webb said. “We install smoke alarms free of charge, and people can give us a call at the fire prevention line.”

That number is 478-751-2700.