RANDOLPH — Sonny Martin had just changed the batteries in his smoke detectors Friday, a day before they were due to be inspected and possibly replaced by the Randolph Fire Department.
The detectors he had were, he said, cheap Chinese ones he had bought from eBay.
As Martin walked upstairs with Randolph Fire Chief Ron Cunningham to look over the deployment of smoke detectors on the upper floor, Sheila Martin said she’s looking forward to her retirement by the end of the year, which will free up time for her to work on her crafts and art. She has a workshop in her basement, put in after the removal of the wood stove that was down there — the wood stove that ignited a chimney fire years ago.
“My ex-husband did something dumb,” she said. After Christmas he decided to get rid off the Christmas trash by putting it in the wood stove. A passerby noticed the dark smoke pouring from the chimney and knocked on the door to let them know. The house wasn’t damaged. Martin said she can’t remember if there were smoke detectors in the house then or whether they were going off.
The Martins were one of the first stops of the day for the fire department, whose plan it had been to use Red Cross-supplied smoke detectors with 10-year batteries donated by Kidde, but Cunningham said a glitch meant they didn’t get them, so fire department volunteers went out Saturday as advertised, with Red Cross-provided detectors that require regular battery changes.
“You’ll have to change the batteries in these every six months,” Cunningham told the homeowners, while he and members of his department visited Saturday morning.
Across the region fire departments, often in partnership with the Red Cross, have been planning events to make sure the residents of their towns are projected. In the last couple of years, departments in Oakland and Farmington are among those to make the effort. In January, the Pittston Fire Department installed 220 smoke detectors in 69 homes — the single-largest one-day installation of smoke detectors in the state.
The Martins and residents across this small town received letters from the town of Randolph on the program, and a number said they had also read about it in the Kennebec Journal. Earlier in the month, town resident Jeffrey Sansouci credited smoke detectors installed in his Fairview Avenue home with saving his life. An early-morning fire on Nov. 5 destroyed his home and the smoke detectors alerted him and allowed him to get out.
Not far from the Martins’ home, Marcia-Anne Dobres stood in her hall debating with Cunningham and his crew about where to put a smoke detector in her hall.
“Can it go at the other end? There’s enough stuff here,” Dobres said, pointing to the doorbell unit, which she said doesn’t work, and the smoke detector that was hard-wired to the home’s electric system.
A quick check showed the unit didn’t have a battery backup, which means it wouldn’t work if the power is out. If it had, Cunningham said, he wouldn’t put a second one in that hallway.
“We want it where it will work and be pleasing,” he said.
A second detector went into the finished basement where the college professor has an office and a laundry room. Cunningham gave the washer-dryer setup a quick once-over along and the advice to not run the dryer when she’s not home.
“It’s a source of heat,” he said, “and there’s dust.”
Dobres has never had a fire in any home where she’s lived, but she lived in Oakland, Calif. in 1989 when a major earthquake struck that part of California and to this day loud noises send her looking for cover.
“This is a great service,” she said. The detectors are free and the fire department puts them up.
As Cunningham and his crew were headed on to the next stop, Dobres headed across the street to reassure her curious neighbors that all that was well and to tell them about the program.
By the time the department wrapped up operations for the day, 41 smoke detectors were installed in eight or nine homes, where volunteers also handed out information on fire safety and the need for an escape plan if fire does break out.
Cunningham said he received a couple of phone calls later in the day Saturday from people who were interested in getting smoke detectors. They will be added to the list of residents who have set up appointments during the week for smoke detector installation, he said.
“If they want to set up an appointment, they can leave a message at 582-9844,” he said.
The fire department may also schedule another drive, he said.
Jessica Lowell — 621-5632
Twitter: @JLowellKJ
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