OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Firefighters swarmed the streets of one Oshkosh neighborhood this week.
The Oshkosh Fire Department went door-to-door, checking smoke detectors in residents’ homes.
It was all a part of the department’s annual Detector Trek program.
We’ve all heard it – the high-pitched chirping noise that comes from a smoke detector.
And while it may be a little annoying to some, Oshkosh firefighters sounded several of those alarms to test for working smoke detectors.
Oshkosh FD public information officer John Holland tells FOX 11 this can be life and death stuff.
“Without a smoke detector, you’re never gonna know if there’s a fire in the middle of the night. We’re always amazed at how few people have enough working detectors, or we even have some places where they’ve had none!”
This is the 11th year Oshkosh Fire has gone door-to-door during National Fire Prevention Week.
Holland says firefighters canvassed the area, knocking on doors and offering to check the smoke detectors inside the home.
“If they are missing any batteries or the batteries are dead, we replace the batteries. If they don’t have enough detectors, which is one on every level, we will put in smoke detectors for free, as well.”
One resident normally checks her elderly neighbor’s smoke detectors for her.
Mary Gray says it’s people like her neighbor who really benefit from this program the most.
“They can’t get up on a ladder, sometimes they can’t open them and, yeah…it’s tough for them.”
Oshkosh firefighters have installed almost 800 detectors and replaced over 900 batteries since the program launched.
The program has already paid off in a big way.
In 2016, a family was alerted to a fire in their home and made it out safely, all because of a detector the department had installed the year prior, during Detector Trek.
Oshkosh’s Detector Trek will go on through Thursday.
The department said this year, they’ll most likely reach out to about 500 homes.
