“Be Alarmed!,” which began in 2018, is a fire safety education and smoke alarm installation program administered cooperatively between Camp I Am Me (CIAM) and the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal (OSFM). The program distributes fire safety education materials and 10-year sealed battery smoke alarms to fire departments in the state of Illinois. The fire departments then deliver the education and install the smoke alarms in at-risk homes within their communities. Both the educational materials and the smoke alarms are provided to fire departments at no cost as a result of funding from both CIAM and OSFM.
The program seeks to educate Illinois residents, young and old, on home fire safety and prevention methods, reduce the number of fire-related injuries in Illinois, reduce the number of fire-related deaths in Illinois, and identify the reason for non-working smoke alarms in Illinois homes.
Program Data (2018-2023):
- 280 active Illinois fire departments from 61 different counties participate in the program
- 31,034 10-year sealed battery smoke alarms distributed to Illinois fire departments
- $723,245 worth of live-saving smoke alarms distributed to Illinois fire departments
- 24,548 10-year sealed battery smoke alarms installed in Illinois homes
- 7,469 Illinois homes protected with new smoke alarms
- 17,165 (8,778 high-risk) Illinois residents educated on smoke alarm maintenance, home fire safety, and home fire escape plans as well as protected by new smoke alarms
- 76% of pre-existing smoke alarms in homes that received new 10-year sealed battery smoke alarms were non-functional or were expired (10,889 of 14,316 pre-existing smoke alarms)
Learn more about the Be Alarmed! Smoke Alarm Installation Program.