Free smoke detectors given at Warren meeting

Staff report

WARREN

Hundreds of free smoke detectors were given to people at a community meeting Monday evening at Community Church of God in Christ, 310 Austin Ave. SW.

The giveaway came a week after a fire that killed a family of six on Lansdowne Avenue Northwest on June 16. There were no smoke detectors in the home.

Jack Szwedko, manager of Lowe’s of Warren, 940 Niles-Cortland Road, said First Alert, which sells smoke alarms, supplied Warren residents with 250 free smoke alarms, according to Cheryl Saffold, a Warren councilwoman.

First Alert is also promising to deliver 500 more smoke alarms to the Warren Fire Department that will be available for the public, said Saffold and Ken Nussle, Warren fire chief.

Smoke alarms were given to several Warren churches, which will take them back to their congregations to distribute, said Saffold, who contacted Swedko about the alarms.

“Mr. Szwedko supplied my ward with 100 smoke alarms last year after a tragic fire killed an area resident,” Saffold said. “Since he was so generous last year, I decided to ask him again.

“He and First Alert answered my prayers! The citizens of Warren are so grateful, and we’re hoping that residents will learn from this tragedy that smoke alarms are vital and may be instrumental in saving lives,” Saffold said.

Meanwhile, Warren Fire Chief Ken Nussle says the Warren Fire Department plans to reinstitute a fire-safety program for elementary schoolchildren this fall, in part because of the June 16 fire.

The fire department gave fire-safety information to fifth-graders years ago but discontinued the program in 2000 because of layoffs and staff shortages that occurred at that time, Nussle said.

Nussle said he first started to consider bringing back the program while applying for federal grant money last year that brought 25 firefighters back to work in 2010 and 2011.

The fatal fire and a conversation with Saffold last week prompted Nussle to consider making the class available to children younger than fifth grade the next time.

“As I was talking to Councilwoman Saffold, I was thinking, ‘Why don’t we gear it to a younger audience?’” Nussle said.

“Now that we’ve got the staffing, it’s a good time to do this,” he said.

Saffold said firefighting and fire safety are especially important to her. Her father, Robert Saffold, was the first black firefighter in the city of Warren in the 1960s.

“I had to personally thank and hug every fireman who was at the scene of the [June 16] fire because neighbors who lived near the victims told me how heroic the firemen were in trying to save the six lives that perished in the fire,” Saffold said.