Fire!

By Dick Falkenbury

I'll bet you anything that we don't have a simple ten buck smoke detector in any of these vaults.

Don't look to roll heads--just buy and install them as soon as possible.

Or why not give away smoke detectors?

No coupons. No public service announcements.

Go door-to-door with firefighters; ask to see and test any smoke detector on the premises. If the home doesn't have one, give the residents one. What could it cost the city if the city buys tens of thousands of detectors at five dollars apiece? The manufacturer might sell them at cost because of the favorable publicity. This program would pay for itself in the first year. Take any serious fire and add up the costs: direct firefighting, administration, investigation, legal cost* and one less fire per year will pay off the entire cost of the free detector program.

*Every serious fire results in at least one investigation and one legal action.

Talk to Dick: falkenbury@aol.com

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