Travis County ESD 2 highlights importance of smoke alarms in preventing house fires

Editor’s Note: The transcript of this live Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity.

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- From October 6 to October 12, the United States celebrates National Fire Prevention Week to help raise awareness on how to prevent fires. The National Fire Protection Association said this year's campaign theme was educating people about the importance of having working smoke alarms in their homes.

KXAN anchors Will DuPree and Jala Washington spoke to Travis County Emergency Services District Two Captain Trevor Stokes on the importance of smoke alarms.

Jala Washington: This year's focus for Travis County is really centered about smoke alarms. So talk to us about why these alarms are so important.

Trevor Stokes: Yes, just some interesting facts. A lot of people don't realize that, you know, 60% of deaths that occur, can occur when homes do not have smoke alarms. And so what we're really focusing on is getting residents all across the Central Texas and obviously across the nation to follow three very simple guidelines.

The first one is, I as in Install smoke alarms where they need to be. We recommend, and the code also asks, that they be in every room that you sleep in, and then outside of every bedroom. The next thing is T. So Test them monthly, so every month you want to test to make sure that these smoke alarms are working. And then the final is R, as in, Replace them every 10 years. The biggest thing is, we find that you cut your risk in half by dying in a residential fire when you have smoke alarms installed in the appropriate places and you're checking them regularly.

Will DuPree: You just mentioned it, but let's underline it one more time. How often should we all be checking our smoke alarms in our houses? Because I feel like I may even need to be doing this relatively soon too.

Trevor Stokes: Yeah, so you want to do that monthly. So in the acronym ITR, testing needs to be done every 30 days. I think with technology nowadays, everyone's carrying around a phone, set yourself an alarm and have that go off every 30 days to remind yourself to test each and every smoke alarm in your home, if you're in a rental property, or if you're living in an apartment, and you find that those are not working correctly, reach out to the management. They're required to have those there, but having them and making sure that they work is a dramatic production of your chances of dying in a fire. Most people don't realize, but you have less than two minutes to get out of a home when a fire occurs. And so obviously, especially if you're living with older ones or younger ones, you need to make sure that they know how to get out. We recommend having at least two ways of getting out. The real message that we're giving the public. You know, obviously we educate and communicate throughout the year, but we highlighted, especially during this week, is to close your door before you go to sleep, so close before you doze. That will give you the best opportunity of getting out along with having smoke alarms.

Jala Washington: Captain Stokes, are there specific rooms or areas [that] are most critical in homes and apartments that people should be making sure they have smoke detectors? And what do people do if they find out that they're not working?

Trevor Stokes: So the recommendation in the code is, is that in every bedroom that someone sleeps in, you need to have a smoke alarm installed in that room. We recommend anywhere from three to four feet from that door, and then you also need to have them just outside that door. So once you close that door, you provide yourself from protection from smoke and really giving yourself the best opportunity of getting out. And that may seem like a lot of smoke alarms, but the reality is, if you think about the cost of installing those battery operated smoke alarms versus your life or a loved one's life, the cost is actually negligible.

Will DuPree: Very true, well one final question for you, Captain Stokes. If you have someone who has a disability, or maybe deaf or hard of hearing. Are there any kind of special smoke detectors that are available for them to help alert them as well?

Trevor Stokes: Most definitely, so both for the visually and the audio impaired, there are special alarms that will allow for notification. And then also, if you're living with someone or you have those disabilities, you want to make sure that you have given yourself the best opportunity to get out, and so we recommend looking at those specific alarms so that they still get notified.

Will DuPree: Quickly before we let you go, one more question I wanted to add in there too. You know, if someone does not have a working smoke alarm, are there any resources available in communities out there for them to access?

Trevor Stokes: Yeah so most fire departments, if you reach out to them, they can help give guidance. I know within Travis County ESD 2, and the Pflugerville Fire Department, we are about to start our our third smoke alarm drive. The funding is provided by the federal government, we're really trying to get smoke alarms in every home that needs it in our community. So definitely, there's various vendors all across Central Texas that sell them. Make sure that you're getting an appropriate smoke alarm, but getting them installed in the proper locations and testing them regularly and then also replacing them every 10 years. [This] is going to give you the best chance of surviving a house fire.