Philly firefighters provide smoke detectors, fire safety tips for residents

Philadelphia firefighters are continuing outreach efforts this week after a series of deadly fires.

Members of the fire department went door-to-door on Monday, Feb. 9, in Somerton to provide tips on preventing fires and install smoke detectors in homes that do not have working ones. On Jan. 26, a house fire on the 15000 block of Wayside Road in Somerton killed one person and injured two others after one of them jumped from the burning home.

Philadelphia Fire Battalion Chief Brandon Wilson said the department has responded to at least eight deadly fires since the beginning of the year, which is why he said the ongoing outreach efforts are so important.

“The unfortunate trend in the city of Philadelphia and many other places is these people don’t have working fire alarms, despite our best efforts of educating the community starting from when they are kids all the way up to senior centers,” Wilson said. “People just still don’t have work and fire alarms.”

Wilson said last year the Philadelphia Fire Department installed nearly 10,000 smoke alarms in homes across Philadelphia.

“Honestly, we’re probably on track to exceed that this year. Thank you to the funding from the mayor and city council and the work with the fire commissioner to get funding,” he said. “We never used to have dedicated funding for smoke alarms until the last few years.”