The Largo Fire Department is committed to helping its residents, and even those who live in neighboring communities.
The Department also helps provide life-saving services, especially as we approach hurricane season to any resident within their fire district.
They provide 200-300 fire alarms inside homes in Largo every year. They say something a lot of people don't know is fire alarms expire in about 10 years.
"So we do a lot of education for our older adults to let them know ways that they can help prevent falls in the home, making sure that they have proper lighting that they have clear pathways," Summer Mahr, Public Educator for Largo Fire Rescue says. "And in addition to the smoke alarm installation program, when we go to their homes, we can also do a home safety assessment where we look for different hazards fire hazards, but also fall prevention hazards in the home."
Mahr says it takes about two minutes or less for a house to become engulfed in smoke.
"So that smoke alarm is their first alert to know to be able to get out. That has been the response from the community response to local programs. So they've been very responsive and very appreciative of the commute of the smoke alarm program," explains Mahr.
The staff will also help the community for hurricane season, which is fast approaching.
"So with hurricane season coming up, we do a lot of heavy education on hurricane preparedness. And what we're doing is we're going to be going into some of our manufactured home communities and doing a drive-thru hurricane preparedness kit giveaway. It's going to give those residents in the mobile home communities some information inside of their kits to let them know their evacuation options, because in the event of a major storm, all of our manufactured home residents will have to evacuate. And we want to ensure that those residents have the education that they need. And we also have some safety supply kits for them to kind of jumpstart the hurricane kit for the season," explains Mahr.
Largo Fire is partnering with the American Red Cross on Saturday, May 22 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. to install smoke alarms in El Dorado Village and East Bay Oaks manufactured home communities to any residents that call and schedule an appointment, and it’s free.
To make an appointment or get more information, click here.
