Deputy Fire Marshal Shawn Pendo jumps into his fire marshal truck at Fire Station #4 on Hudson Street Saturday morning, Sept. 26, to join three firefighters on Operation Firesafe. This is an initiative of the Arlington County Fire Chief with the goal of making sure everyone has a working smoke detector.
Firefighters across the county knock on doors of Arlington residences on Saturdays to offer on-the-spot free smoke alarm inspections and free smoke alarm installations. This program began June 6 and, according to Pendo, today is the last shift for Fire Station #4, and the whole program is due to wrap up at the end of the month. Seven hundred and ninety-nine smoke alarms have been installed countywide since the program began as well as 161 batteries with 5,420 addresses served.
The dispatcher’s voice in Pendo’s fire marshal truck reports “50-year old male unconscious on curb, case unknown." Pendo says 80 percent of the calls they get are medical. He joins Peter Slauch, Will Farrell and Dustin Drumm who are halfway through their two-hour shift at Barton Street in Clarendon. They start at 11 a.m. on Saturdays, “a little later since the neighborhood is younger and may stay out a little later and sleep in.”
Still there haven't been too many responses this morning.
They knock on a door of a large house and a man answers in his animal-patterned pajamas. He says he has working fire alarms but thanks the firefighters for stopping by. They walk by the next two buildings that are apartments. Slauch says the landlords are responsible for fire alarms in apartments. However, the renters in one unit invite them in to inspect their smoke alarms. One of the smoke detectors is dated 2003 which is over the 10-year expected useful life of a smoke alarm. A test on the other alarm gives off a loud beep indicating the battery is working but the alarm is due to expire soon. A battery should be replaced every six months. Slauch and Farrell install a new smoke alarm for free to replace the 2003 alarm and tell the renters to contact their landlord to assure they have what they need in the future.
After each house, Pendo says they mark off where they have visited, whether the door was answered, whether a smoke alarm was installed, the customer refused service or indicated they have a working alarm already. Then they use an iPad to put the information in a countywide database. Pendo indicates they have a “box system” for keeping track of activities. Several houses down the street a loud bark greets them as they walk up the steps to the front door. A black Labrador bounds out as the owner tells them she has just installed new batteries. They thank her and leave. Farrell said, “We are here to offer a service but if they tell us their alarms are OK, we don’t go inside to check.”
Frederic Cura invites the firefighters in “just to be sure” that his smoke alarms are working. Cura shows them to the first alarm around the corner and then his daughter Elena follows Slauch up the stairs watching him stretch up to check the alarm outside her bedroom door. All pronounced OK. The firefighters agree that although some of the people are grateful for the service, others are suspicious of letting anyone they don’t know into the house and “others feel like we are bothering them; that it’s an inconvenience.”
No one answers the doorbell next door, and Drumm leaves a red and gray card door hanger in both English and Spanish indicating firefighters were in the neighborhood and the homeowner can schedule a free inspection by calling 703-228-4644.