Volume 3   Issue  36                        November   2004

                 

Event Strikes Up Talk of Fire Safety
By Eileen O. Daday Daily Herald (Chicago, IL)
November 08, 2004

A fire engine parked next to a 32-foot-long trailer in the Sears Hardware lot in Rolling Meadows had the desired effect: It drew a lot of attention.  Sears customers were drawn to the trailer Sunday, with its "First Alert" smoke detector image on the side and brightly colored tents set up nearby.  Upon closer inspection, they found a home safety display with how-to demonstrations, a virtual reality tour, and fire-fighting equipment and challenges.

The pomp drew families with kids and homeowners looking to update equipment.  "I just heard about a combined carbon monoxide and smoke detector," said Frank Leo of Rolling Meadows, "and when I saw this display I decided to walk over."
The Sears store was the first stop in the final week of the First Alert Home Safety Challenge's national tour. Since March, the trailer has taken its home safety message to the streets, setting up shop in 150 places across the country.

"We're thrilled our store was picked for this," store Manager Pete Tunberg said. "Especially at this time of year, we have a big demand for this type of equipment, with people wanting to update their smoke alarms and other equipment."
The display came one day after the death of Rolling Meadows resident Geraldine Mezzo in a house fire. "The timing is unfortunate with what happened in town," Rolling Meadows firefighter Brian Dempsey said, noting it did give a chance to reinforce the importance of fire safety.
"The two things we always stress in our presentations are to have a working smoke alarm," Dempsey said, "and to have an escape plan formed."

First Alert experts reinforced both points in an interactive presentation. Spectators were able to watch smoke quickly rise to fill a clear, Plexiglas room the size of a phone booth. They learned that a home fire can double in size every 30 seconds, and that smoke is black - making it difficult to see your hand, let alone plan an escape route, when it's in your face. The tip: Crawl beneath it. A large screen took visitors to the display on a virtual reality tour of what a firefighter sees when inside a burning room.

Another exhibit encouraged participants to try to operate a fire extinguisher - a piece of equipment most homeowners have but few know how to use, tour officials said Sunday. An especially popular part of the display was a challenge encouraging people to guess which door was hiding the carbon monoxide scent. Many picked the one that turned out to be the car exhaust smell.

"We're trying to teach home safety," tour coordinator Carlos Rios said. "We're hoping that by repeating it often enough, it will become secondhand."

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