Smoke Alarms for Everyone Program (SAFE)

In 2007, 93 Marylanders lost their life due to a fire related injury while there were 663 hospitalizations and 6,324 emergency department visits for the same cause.  Of these 6,324 fire-related emergency department visits, a total of $1,727,297 in charges were accumulated in 2007. Of the 663 fire related hospitalizations, a total of $15,115,463 in charges were also accumulated in 2007. Hospital stays averaged 6.91 days in the hospital with a total of 4,584 days. With this in mind, in 2007 there was a total of 93 years of potential life lost due to fire-related injury before the age of 75.

Fire safety remains a necessity in this state and thus the Smoke Alarms for Everyone Program (SAFE) was created.

Thanks to a five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) beginning in 2006, the Center for Health Promotion (CHP) is able to fund needy communities throughout Maryland via a competitive grant process.  Eligible communities must have a population under 50,000, a higher than national average proportion of adults over age 65 or children under 5 years, a higher than national average number of families living below the poverty line, and a higher than national or state average of fire-related deaths or injuries.

Funded communities work with their local fire departments going door-to-door educating residents about fire safety, checking smoke alarms, and installing new, 10-year lithium battery powered smoke alarms in project homes.  Creative partnerships with local businesses and coalitions help the projects advertise within their communities and identify new project homes. Throughout the past four year and coming into the last year of the SAFE Program, 2,080 homes were enrolled in seven different communities, and 3,969 alarms were installed, which are protecting 5,972 individuals.

The SAFE Program reminds everyone to:

For more information about the SAFE Program, please contact: