Citizen SAFE (Smoke Alarm and Fire Education) is a proactive program involving firefighters going door-to-door to check residential smoke alarms and batteries, and offer to do a free home safety inspection. The St. John’s Fire and Rescue Dept. conducts the inspections on the first and third Saturdays of each month for Kiawah Island, just south of Charleston. The South Carolina Code requires smoke detectors in all single and double family homes, including manufactured housing, as islandconnectionnews tells MHProNews. St. John’s recommends devices that are wired to each other so smoke in one room will sound alarms in the rest of the house. The firefighters will also install special smoke alarms for the hearing-impaired that utilize visual and movement devices to alert residents.

(Photo credit: Jim Parker/postandcourier–Southern Palms)