Visual Smoke Alarm Program

Through a Federal Grant, The Foundation for Safer Housing is able to offer free visual smoke alarms to the deaf and hard of hearing meeting certain financial requirements. The program is designed to offer protection to those who would otherwise have no protection. The alarms are free of cost and are simple to apply for. Just fill out the application below.

About the Alarms:

Many of the people that die in fires in the home have no smoke alarms, or ones that do not work. FAct is, your chances of surviving a fire are more than doubled if you have working smoke alarms. Unfortunately, visual smoke alarms designed to wake the deaf and hard of hearing are very costly, sometimes more than $200 for one alarm. On top of that, hard wiring requires an electrician. This all means that protection can cost thousands. Many deaf and hard of hearing are living on little money.

Our program offers these households a minimal level of protection when they would otherwise have no protection. The alarms we offer are plug in units that can be placed in the bedroom, preferably near a door. These would alert the individuals of the presence of a fire. Studeies show that the smell of smoke does not always wake a sleeping person. In fact, a United States Fire Administration Study showed that 80% of test subjects did not wake from a sleep to the smell of smoke. These alarms offer a ways of waking the deaf or hard of hearing, hopefully offering them enough time to escape before the fire has progressed or the gases have accumulated enough to overcome the individual. Of course we encourage you to also plan an escape route now, before a fire strikes. Information on escape plans can be found at FEMA - click here

Application Instructions:

When filling out the application for a free visual smoke alarm, please fill in all the fields to your best knowledge. Incomplete applications will be discarded and you may not receive consideration for your alarm. Also out program falls under very stringent guidelines for income levels. To fill out the application and guidelines, click here