As a public service, your Coronado Firefighters would like to remind everyone about the tradition of changing your smoke detector batteries every time you change your clocks for Daylight Savings Time. Smoke detectors are one of the cheapest and best safety devices you have to protect you in your home. Carbon Monoxide detectors are another and both will only work with fresh batteries. Unfortunately we don’t usually think of these little safety devices quietly sitting there standing guard over us until we need them and their care and feeding are easily forgotten about!
Every year thousands of lives are saved by early warning devices like these so please help us to help you and change your batteries and test your detectors! Also, if you own rental property be sure to remind your tenants to do the same. By law, the tenant is obligated to tell the landlord if their detectors are not working and once notified, the landlord is obligated to have it fixed ASAP, but why not be proactive and help your tenants out? It’s your property and you have a vested interest in keeping it and your tenants safe from fire.
Early detection devices can not only warn occupants of a fire enabling them to get out in time, it also alerts them to notify 911 in a timely manner so we can get there earlier and have a better chance of keeping the fire contained to “room and contents” versus losing the entire structure and trying to keep the neighbors’ homes from burning to the ground too. Fires double in size every minute and winter is coming. During this time, we see a jump in residential fires caused by heaters, fireplaces, cooking, holiday lighting, etc.
Unlike many other progressive cities, the City of Coronado still has no residential fire sprinkler ordinance. We also currently do not have enough firefighter staffing or equipment and we can not reach all areas of the city in the response times recommended by national standards. Fire sprinklers are another cheap and effective safety feature and they save countless lives and property every year. They are a bit more expensive than smoke and carbon dioxide detectors, but they are still far cheaper than hiring more firefighters, buying more fire engines and building more fire stations. If you’re looking for the best bang for the buck, we’d recommend starting with fresh batteries and moving up from there! 😉
Also, be sure to change the batteries in your emergency flashlight in your 72-hour “go kit” in your home and your car (don’t store them in the flashlight for longer life). Rotate out your stored water, food and medications with fresh supplies. Coronado residents–more than most in the county–need to be prepared and able to be self sufficient for 72 hours.
Remember, most of our help comes from across the bridge and up the Strand. In a major disaster, help may not be coming for a long time. You can learn more about Emergency and Disaster Preparedness by taking our FREE Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training offered by the Fire Department. Classes are scheduled every month, and did we mention they’re FREE? 😉
