Pāpāmoa residents feel safer after smoke alarm installation

Installers Ron Judd (back right) and Geoff Russell with Denise and Bruce Armstrong.

Some Pāpāmoa residents are feeling safer in their homes now they have brand new 10-year smoke alarms installed by Neighbourhood Support volunteers.

Working with Fire and Emergency (FENZ), Western Bay of Plenty Neighbourhood Support has installed 260 smoke alarms in 85 homes - and there are more to come.

Neighbourhood Support launched a Givealittle campaign in September to get smoke alarms installed in more homes, working with FENZ and its own volunteers to do the installations.

The pilot programme will be completed by the end of March, with a plan to roll it out regionally and possibly nationally.

On the first day the campaign was launched, more than 150 people signed up for the first 500 alarms, so the first installations went to the most in need - the elderly and young families.

Geoff Russell, left, talks to Brian Peters, 88, about fire safety.

Brian Peters, 88, and his wife, Vivienne, had alarms installed in their Shire Place home by Fire Safety Champion volunteers Ron Judd, a Community Patrol volunteer, and Geoff Russell, a Neighbourhood Support street co-ordinator and former ambulance officer and tour guide. Geoff provides some fire safety tips while Ron does the installation.

He talks to the recipients about developing an escape plan and explains that alarms are fitted near doors so people can crawl towards the sound when their house is full of smoke. It takes less than three minutes for a home to fill with smoke, and people can’t smell smoke when they’re asleep.

Geoff warns about fire risks from leaving cooking unattended, electric blankets, and charging phones and laptops.

Bruce and Denise Armstrong have new long-life alarms in their Franks Way home. Bruce uses a walker and is concerned about getting out safely in a fire.

“We’re feeling safer now,” Denise says.

Neighbourhood Support manager Bruce Banks says those who have had the alarms installed are grateful for the campaign. It’s also led to some funny moments.

One man was watching an alarm being installed in his garage when the newly installed one in his kitchen went off. He’d left his lunch cooking on the stove and it burnt.

“We’re happy to help people be safer in their homes - but we also hope they never have to hear their alarm go off at all.” Neighbourhood Support is hoping to extend the programme beyond Pāpāmoa.

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