Historical September 1984 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
The City of St. Louis in cooperation with the Barnes Hospital Burn Center Support Group is establishing an “Alarms For Life” program to install smoke alarms in City residences.
The alarm distribution and installation is part of the on-going Operation SafeStreet program instituted last fall. Under the program, Operation SafeStreet workers will install free smoke alarms upon request to residents within the Operation SafeStreet neighborhoods.
The money to purchase the smoke detectors is being raised by the Barnes Hospital Burn Center Support Group.
The group is a volunteer organization comprised of burn victims and staff members of Barnes’ Intensive Care Burn Unit. General American Life Insurance Company of St. Louis has made the first contribution, a check for $8,000, to the Alarms For Life fund. Much of the nation’s loss to fire is preventable, and the smoke detector is the single device with the greatest potential to prevent residential fire deaths.
Since the early 1970’s, the usage of smoke detectors has risen dramatically, while fire deaths in residential properties has declined by nearly 20% as a result of the increase in smoke detector usage.
For Alarms For Life to be successful, additional contributions are needed. Contributions should be sent to “Alarms For Life,” Barnes Hospital Plaza, Missouri 63110.
The smoke alarm installation is part of Project Home Security, one of the five programs which make up Operation SafeStreet. Under Project Home Security, work crews also install deadbolt locks, bar basement windows, install front door peep holes and basement door barricades, and pin first floor windows.
The total security package costs $150.00, but is free for senior citizens or handicapped persons.
The other four components of Operation SafeStreet are: Project Porchlight, where residents are asked to turn on their porchlights from dusk to dawn to discourage crime; Neighborhood Watch, which trains residents to look out for suspicious activities and how to report them to police; Project Quiet Street, where street patterns are changed to add a sense of community and make it easier for residents to identify strangers and suspicious occurrences: and the SafeStreet Newsletter, which establishes a viable communication network with the residents of the target areas and provides for feedback from the community.
For further information on Alarms For Life or Operation SafeStreet, call 622-3444.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, September 1984.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1984_09.pdf, printed page(s) 8; PDF page(s) 8.
