North Fire delivers for those with smoke alarms
For Tina and Wayne Hartmann, having working smoke alarms in their home is a must. With one of them needing oxygen, they need to get out of the house quickly in the event of a fire.
So, when they learned they could get free pizza for having alarms that work, they decided to take part.
The North Fort Myers Fire Department and Heavenly Pizza teamed up to offer a free delivery order for those who had working smoke detectors as part of national Fire Prevention Week.
“We are getting creative and spreading the word of smoke alarm safety and having them in your home functioning properly,” said Kristi Kulwicki, NFMFD education officer and fire inspector. “We believe in the rule of having alarms under 10 years old and changing your batteries properly so your chance of passing away in a fire is reduced by half.”
Kulwicki said the idea was also to get small businesses involved to help them, as the pandemic brought many of them to their knees.
The Hartmanns learned about the event through the newspaper and made their order. The NFMFD truck followed behind the small delivery car to the home on Zoysia Lane.
“We like that pizza there anyway and it was time for us to order one and we waited for that day when we read it,” the Hartmanns said. “We have oxygen in the house so alarms are very important.”
The fire department, which did two such orders on Wednesday, inspected the Hartmann alarms and found they were in sound working order, meaning dinner was on the house.
Had the alarms not been in working order, the NFMFD would have installed three brand new alarms for the home at no charge (though they would have had to pay for their food), making it a win-win for everybody.
Kulwicki said the department had to get creative this year, since much of its work during Fire Prevention Week involves schools and many of them are not open to them except remotely.
“I would like to do this every year. I think this is great outreach for the community and we love partnering with Heavenly Pizza because they’re a small business,” Kulwicki said. “It’s a wonderful way to put efforts into the community and do outreach to everybody, not just kids.”