The City of Whiteville Fire Department installed and inspected smoke alarms in homes as part of a statewide canvass organized by the State Fire Marshall on Saturday.
“A smoke alarm canvass is where we are targeting a certain area of the community that’s at high risk,” said Brian Taylor, Chief State Fire Marshall. “We’re seeing a lot of mobile homes fires, a lot of fires involving senior citizens. So our goal is to go into those areas that are vulnerable for not having smoke alarms, and/or have a high call rate… and go door to door and check and install smoke alarms.”
About 13 members of the Whiteville Fire Department plus other staff participated in the canvass, said David Yergeau, Fire Chief of Whiteville Fire Department.
Fire deaths in North Carolina are on the rise, according to data provided by the NC Office of the State Fire Marshall.
“We have a high fire death rate in North Carolina, it’s a record high” said Taylor. “We are currently at 91 fire deaths statewide. Last year, we only had 83 for the entire year. The year before that we had 63.”