What you need to know:
- Mat-Su residents can receive free smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, including installation, through a borough program supported by the American Red Cross Alaska Home Fire Campaign. A second program offers free reflective green address signs to help emergency responders locate homes more easily.
- The programs could help residents update their emergency readiness as the region prepares for what some local officials say could be a historic wildfire season.
- The services are available to both homeowners and renters and can be requested by contacting a local fire station.
WASILLA – Mat-Su residents can receive free smoke alarms and reflective address signs through two borough fire department programs aimed at improving home safety.
The programs offer easy ways for residents to update their emergency readiness as the region prepares for what some local officials say could be a historic wildfire season due to dry conditions and low snowpack. A grass burn by Mat-Su Assembly member Ron Bernier near his Meadow Lakes home last month was the Mat-Su region's first documented wildland fire of the year.
Spearheaded by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Emergency Department, the program provides free smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, along with installation, through a partnership with the Red Cross Alaska Home Fire Campaign, officials said.
“We come out, change out batteries or, if they don't have any, we will install brand-new smoke alarms,” said Butte Fire Department Chief Michael Shipton, who chairs the area’s community risk reduction program. “We won’t turn anyone down for smoke alarms because our number one priority is safety.”
Fire department staff throughout the region conduct the alarm installations, with a few exceptions, Shipton said. In Sutton, fire officials are connecting residents directly with the Red Cross for the service. In Palmer, the fire department will do its own installations starting in mid-May and will refer residents to the Red Cross in the meantime, he said.
The program is available to both homeowners and renters, Shipton said, but fire officials will look to speak with the landlord before conducting a new installation in a rental home.
A second safety program, also overseen by Mat-Su fire departments and funded by the borough, provides residents with free reflective green home address signs to help first responders locate homes during emergencies, Shipton said.
The number signs are designed to be mounted on a tree or post, he said. Borough code requires home addresses to be visible from within 50 feet of the roadway, and the program aims to help residents comply with that rule.
While not new to the borough, both the address sign and smoke alarm programs were recently highlighted by Wasilla City Council member Cathy Cottle during two council meetings. She said she first learned about them at the region's annual transportation fair in late January and ordered a free reflective sign for her home.
Shipton said program officials installed 350 smoke alarms and ordered 60 home signs for borough residents last year.
Residents can access both programs by calling a station in their fire service area and requesting a sign or smoke alarms assistance, Shipton said. Residents who are unsure which fire service area they live in can find that information by visiting the borough's website or calling any of the borough's fire stations.
“We’re out here to help everybody. We’re out here to make a difference and save people,” he said. “We want everybody to feel comfortable at night when they go to sleep, knowing that their alarms are working and that if they do call 911, they’re going to be easily found and that their address is going to be visible.”
-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com
This story has been republished with permission from the original at the Mat-Su Sentinel.
