State Fire Marshal Launches “Life Saver” Billboard Campaign in High-Risk Areas

NASHVILLE – The State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) is making it easier than ever for Tennesseans living in areas identified as high risk for fire to equip their homes with smoke alarms.

Earlier this month, the SFMO launched billboards in six locations statewide: Memphis, Lexington, Clarksville, Crossville, Chattanooga, and Johnson City. The locations were chosen to focus fire prevention efforts on communities with above average rates of residential fires. The eye-catching billboards feature a “Life Saver” smoke alarm image in order to promote the SFMO’s new web-based request form allowing Tennessee residents to directly request an installation of free 10-year battery alarms.

“Smoke alarms are proven life savers,” said State Fire Marshal and Commerce & Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak.  “Our ‘Get Alarmed’ program was launched as a way to get these crucial early warning devices into homes in need — and it’s working. By providing smoke alarms to participating fire departments for installation in their local communities, we have seen a drastic reduction in our state’s fire fatality rate.”

Participating local fire departments will receive notification from the SFMO when a resident in their response area requests alarms via the web form. The department will then follow up with the resident to schedule installation of the smoke alarms. 

The billboard campaign ties into the “Get Alarmed, Tennessee!” program’s mission of reducing fire death, injury and property loss through the provision of smoke alarms and fire prevention education.

“Our fire prevention experts work diligently to collect, analyze, and map Tennessee fire incident data to identify risks and trends,” said Deputy Commissioner Gary West. “Over the coming months, we will be using that data to focus fire prevention resources where they matter most: in areas with high rates of fires and fire fatalities.”

Since the “Get Alarmed” program’s inception in 2012, the SFMO has distributed over 100,000 smoke alarms. More 450 Tennessee fire service partners work to install the 10-year battery alarms in homes statewide. Smoke alarms distributed through the program are credited with saving 129 Tennesseans from fire danger so far and helped lower Tennessee’s fire fatality rate to a new all-time low in 2015.

For more details on fire risks and trends in Tennessee, view the SFMO’s 2015 Fire Fatality Report.