Stopping something really scary this Halloween
Friday, October 30th, 2009
This Halloween, Delaware fire stations will be throwing open theirs doors, not for trick-or-treaters, but for anybody in need of a smoke detector. It's part of the Wake Up Delaware campaign which is connected to the change to or from daylight savings time. Fire stations statewide will be handing out smoke detectors and batteries on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Wake Up Delaware campaign came out of a pair of tragic fires in October 2000 and January 2001. The first fire claimed five lives in Broadkill. The second fire killed eleven people including seven children in Oak Orchard in Sussex County. In both fires, there was no working smoke detector.
Last year in the city of Wilmington, there were 365 structural fires. Fire officials say they did not find any working smoke detectors at 48 of those locations.