Fighting fire with…

LYNN – Fire Department inspectors will install 5,000 smoke detectors in local homes over the next year to give residents a fighting chance at surviving a fire.?They probably double your chances of survival,” said Fire Chief James McDonald Thursday as he joined Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy in announcing $300,000 in federal tax money to pay for the detectors.McDonald estimated one in 10 homes – single-family houses as well as apartment buildings – firefighters and inspectors enter do not have working smoke detectors.?It?s not that uncommon to see them hanging in hallways with the wires exposed,” he said.The Department of Homeland Security money allocated to the city represents, McDonald said, the largest amount of public assistance the city has received to improve fire safety in Lynn homes.The detector installation campaign is one part of a citywide Fire Department safety initiative that will include billboards, television and radio information announcements in several languages and online information.McDonald said the campaign will stress detectors? importance and the need for families to discuss “exit plans” ensuring everyone in a house knows how to evacuate if a fire breaks out. The campaign will also focus on cooking safety, smoking and electrical hazards and fire threats posed by heating systems, dryers and candles.Fire officials also plan to work with individuals who make frequent trips to local homes, including home health aides, visiting nurses and clergy, to pinpoint residences where smoke detectors should be installed.Two thirds of the 3,000 Americans killed in fires annually died in homes without smoke detectors or ones that didn?t work, said National Fire Prevention Association regional manager Robert Duval and state Fire Marshal Stephen Coan.?Time is your enemy in a fire,” said Coan.He said Lynn fire officials competed with other fire departments to obtain federal money to buy detectors and secure an additional $330,000 to purchase new breathing equipment. The equipment includes air tanks that are lighter than tanks currently used by the department and hold more air than tanks now in use.The new equipment can also convert the breathing mask?s face plate into a computer screen and display air consumption information without requiring the firefighter to locate and look at a gauge.McDonald also replaces the “personal alert safety system” warning devices firefighters are now required to manually activate with alert equipment that automatically activates.?It sounds a loud shrill alarm if the wearer becomes immobile so that his partners know he is in trouble. It?s a big took for safety and survival: The sooner we get an injured member out of a building, the sooner we are able to help them,” the chief said.