Insurance Group Hands Out 2,000 Smoke Alarms in Texas

The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) distributed 2,000 smoke alarms to firefighters in every corner of the state this month in honor of Fire Prevention Week.

ICT’s We’re Out to Alarm Texas program provides the smoke alarms to fire departments who install them in the homes of low income and elderly residents.

Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas, said the program was initiated nine years ago.

Fire departments receiving smoke alarms for the first time through the We’re Out to Alarm Texas program are Del Rio, Laredo, Austin, Rocksprings, Point, Canyon, and the volunteer fire departments in Potter and Randall Counties.

ICT was assisted in funding for the smoke alarms by the Travelers Insurance Companies, State Farm, an Association of Fire and Casualty Companies of Texas (AFACT) and First Alert.

In Austin, the fire department installed donated smoke alarms into the homes of every client in the Helping the Aged, Needy and Disabled (HAND) organization.

Other cities receiving smoke alarms this year were Abilene, Edinburg, Farmers Branch, Longview, Lufkin, Mansfield, McKinney, Odessa, River’s End and Waco.

The smoke alarms are installed on a first-come, first-serve basis to homeowners in each city. Firefighters install the smoke alarms and point out possible fire hazards in each home.

The program has donated more than 10,000 smoke alarms to two dozen Texas cities since the program began in 2005.

Source: The Insurance Council of Texas