(Radio Iowa) – Iowans are being reminded about the life-saving potential of smoke alarms as part of National Fire Prevention Week. Levi Kinnison, the fire prevention specialist with the Red Oak Fire Department, says smoke alarms can provide crucial time for residents to get out of a house or building if there’s a fire.

“Make sure you have smoke alarms, make sure they’re working, and make sure the batteries have been replaced,” Kinnison says. “Test your smoke alarms once a month, but if you can do it every six months to make sure they’re doing good, that’s perfect. When you change your clocks, change your batteries. That’s what we want to stress this year, just having working smoke alarms throughout the house.”

Studies find smoke alarms reduce the risk of dying in a home fire by more than half. Also, roughly three out of five fire deaths happen in homes with either no smoke alarms or no working alarms. Through a partnership with the American Red Cross, Kinnison says Red Oak is among many Iowa fire departments offering free smoke detectors.

“Usually a fire department person can come and install them for you, especially the elderly, we don’t want them climbing up on ladders trying to put in a new smoke alarm, so we’ll come out and do those,” he says. “Also, most local fire departments also have a smoke alarm program they can help with as well.” He recommends installing smoke detectors in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of a home.

Kinnison says strobe light or bed shaking alarms are available for people with sensory or physical disabilities. He also suggests a few other general fire safety tips. “If your smoke alarms are going off and your house is filling with smoke, we want you to ‘get low and go,’ where we crawl below the smoke and the heat and get outside,” Kinnison says. “Also, ‘get out and stay out.’ We never want anybody to go back inside a house or building that has smoke and fire as that’s what the fire department is there for. We’re trained professionals, so we’ll be the ones that go back inside that ‘not ideal’ environment for you.”

The Iowa Fire Marshal’s office says 24 Iowans have died in fires so far in 2024. Last year, there were 37 fire deaths statewide.