PORT ANGELES — Free, talking smoke and carbon monoxide alarms — freely installed as well — are available from Clallam Fire District No. 2 to residents of the district west and east of the Port Angeles city limit, along with fire-safety inspections of the homes.
When activated, a female voice warns the resident of fire, carbon monoxide or a low battery.
Trouble is, no one seems to want any of the 78 devices valued at $40 each — each with a 10-year warranty — that are part of a joint program by Port Angeles Noon Rotary Club and the fire district, Fire Chief Sam Phillips said last week.
Just 12 of the 90 that were available have been grabbed, he said.
Noon Rotary donated $7,000 toward the project.
“We can’t give them away,” Phillips told the Port Angeles Business Association at a breakfast meeting Tuesday. “We’ve really struggled to get the word out on this.”
The alarms from Fire District No. 2 are intended for “high risk” populations of people earning $26,000 or less a year, those over the age of 60, and/or families with children age 5 and younger.
Those who will settle for the ordinary, beeping smoke detectors can get them free from the American Red Cross, Olympic Peninsula Chapter, which covers Clallam and Jefferson counties.
They can be obtained by applying for them through their local fire district, but will be installed by Red Cross personnel.
Clallam Fire District No. 2’s effort is part of the district’s Fire Incident Reduction through Education effort — Project FIRE.
Safety inspections are conducted and the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors installed by volunteer Rotarians, firefighters and Red Cross personnel.
“We have found, through our research, that 60 percent of smoke alarms out there aren’t functioning,” Phillips said last week.
A working smoke detector might have saved a life in an April 8 home-fire fatality in Jefferson County, he said.
Eric Paul Hermanson, 57, died in the blaze, officials said.
Hermanson’s death was due to asphyxia from inhaling toxic materials that burned during the house fire, Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney-Coroner Michael Haas said.
The 320 Cook Avenue Extension home where Hermanson lived with his brother had smoke detectors, but they did not work, East Jefferson County Fire-Rescue spokesman Bill Beezley said Friday.
Hermanson’s brother also opened a door to the stairs of the basement where the fire was burning.
“We always recommend that people keep doors and windows closed,” Beezley said, to keep oxygen from fueling a fire.
Clallam County has the third highest percentage of the 65-and-older population at 24 percent, twice the state average, according to the state Office of Management and Budget.
“The big thing is, we need to make sure it gets up on the wall or on the ceiling,” Phillips said Wednesday.
The presence of a smoke alarm increases the odds of survival in a fire by 50 percent, he said.
Residents of Clallam Fire District No. 2 can call 360-457-2550 for more information on how to obtain the detectors.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
