October is Fire Prevention Month, and Springfield firefighters are kicking off their safety awareness by educating the public on smoke detectors.
In 2017, the General Assembly passed a law requiring everyone living in Illinois to replace their old smoke detectors with the type that has a 10-year sealed battery.
City Fire Marshall Ed Canny said Illinois-based First Alert made a donation of 100 of these smoke detectors to the Springfield Fire Department so they can help reduce the number of fire-related injuries in the community. "There's only so many dollars in the budget, and so every donation of smoke detectors really helps us provide for the community," Canny said.
According to Canny, the number of fire-related deaths has historically gone down, but someone is more likely to die in a residential fire now than ever before.