WA Woman Credits Fire Escape to FD-Provided Smoke Alarm

A homeowner is crediting smoke alarms installed by a Washington fire department's program with allowing her and her two great-grandchildren to safely escape a house fire.

The residential blaze happened at around 8:45 p.m. Thursday, the Spokane Fire Department stated in a press release. The homeowner, who is on oxygen, heard her smoke alarm as she was watching TV after putting her great-grandchildren to bed.

"If it hadn’t have gone off, I wouldn’t have gotten the boys out,” she said, according to the release.

Firefighters who responded to the blaze had been to the home more than a year before to install smoke alarms. The woman, who is on a fixed income, had contacted the Spokane Fire Department's Smoke Alarm Install program and had two free alarms installed in May 2019, according to the department.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the smoke alarm program, and installations will resume once it's safe to do so, according to the department. A waiting list for the program for homeowners unable to buy smoke alarms is being compiled by the department.