Laila Hicks was a high school senior weeks away from walking across the stage during Ramsay High School’s graduation ceremony.
But instead, Hicks and her parents perished in an April house fire.
“Laila should have been able to attend her prom,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin told the City Council at a meeting this past spring.
Like many Birmingham residents, they didn’t have working smoke alarms in their home. Since the tragedy, city leaders and fire department officials have been drawing attention to a program that provides smoke detectors and installation for free.
“It turns out having a working smoke detector in your home can mean the matter of life and death,” Woodfin told city council members before urging them to promote the program.
Lt. Darryl Lane with Birmingham Fire and Rescue quantified the mayor’s comment when discussing the smoke-detector program this month.
“With a working smoke alarm in your home, your risk of dying of a house fire drops 50 to 60%,” he said.
That’s particularly worth noting in the greater Birmingham area, where almost a quarter of Alabama’s home fire deaths occurred in recent years. Those fatalities contributed to Alabama having the nation’s ninth highest fire-death rate, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
At a minimum, smoke alarms should be installed inside every bedroom and outside each sleeping area – in hallways leading to bedrooms, for example, per the National Fire Protection Association. They also should be on every level of the home. Larger homes require even more detectors.
The average cost of one battery-powered smoke detector is around $25. Equipping an entire home can be a hefty investment that Birmingham residents don’t have to make. Lane said all they have to do is call or go by their nearest fire station.
“We will get your name, your number, and your address,” he said. “Within 24 to 48 hours, we will come to your home, and we will install that smoke detector for free.”
The smoke alarms the fire department installs have built-in lithium batteries that are supposed to last for 10 years, but Lane said residents should test all detectors at least once a month.
The free smoke-detector program has been around for more than 12 years, Lane said, adding that it’s always been well received.
“We have had a tremendous response and a very positive response from our citizens,” he said.
Still, the fire department stepped up an awareness campaign for the program after the Hicks family died. Lane said it seems to have been effective.
“We did see an increase in people calling, you know, wanting those smoke detectors,” Lane said.
