‘Creating that safer community’: Fire departments providing residents with free smoke alarms through statewide program

Peter Gripper saves lives without rushing into a burning building.

The Buffalo Grove Fire Department’s public educator drives to homes and installs free smoke alarms the department receives through a statewide program.

The “Be Alarmed!” Smoke Alarm Installation Program is a collaboration between Camp I Am Me by the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance and the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal.

The program provides fire safety education materials and 10-year sealed battery smoke alarms to the fire departments. The departments, in turn, visit residents in their communities, installing the alarms while also providing education.

The alarms reach the departments at no cost, thanks to donations and a $300,000 FEMA grant.

More than 390 Illinois fire departments have taken part in the program, which has distributed more than 58,000 smoke alarms.

This amounts to nearly $1.5 million worth of life-saving equipment, said Philip Zaleski, executive director of Camp I Am Me, which provides free programs for children, adults, and families affected by burn-related injuries.

Buffalo Grove recently was honored for having installed 1,000 smoke alarms, a distinction shared by seven other departments, including Elk Grove Village.

The village has been in the midst of an aggressive installation campaign.

“We’re doing what we call a blitz,” said Gripper, who earned a life safety award from Camp I Am Me in 2025. “We basically saturate an area.”

The department has done other blitz campaigns, most notably at the Le Parc condominiums, where last year, residents of a townhouse unit were displaced by a fire that caused almost $1 million worth of damage.

The “Be Alarmed!” program began in 2018. It yielded some alarming results.

Zaleski said it revealed more than 70% of smoke alarms in homes receiving replacements were nonfunctioning — the result of lack of batteries in the units, dead batteries or alarms not being replaced after more than 10 years.

Illinois State Fire Marshal Michele Pankow said the program benefits firefighters as well as residents.

“Not only do these alarms give residents precious time to safely evacuate, but they also help protect our firefighters by reducing the need for risky rescue operations inside burning homes,” she said.

The National Fire Protection Association states smoke alarms reduce the risk of dying in a home fire by 54%.

Fire departments have recommended the following guidelines applying to smoke alarms:

• Install smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on each level of the home.

• Make sure smoke alarms meet the needs of all family members, including those with sensory or physical disabilities.

• Test smoke alarms at least once a month by pushing the test button.

• Replace all broken or expired smoke alarms that are 10 years old or older.

Other suburban communities that have participated in the program include Arlington Heights, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Hoffman Estates, Palatine, Prospect Heights, Rolling Meadows, Rosemont, Wheaton, West Chicago and St. Charles.

“On average, we conduct approximately one to two of these inspections and installations each month,” said David Schuman, fire prevention division chief for Des Plaines. “We typically see an increase in requests around this time of year, so that number may increase in the coming months.”

Schuman said the department uses community events like the fire department’s open house to educate residents about the importance of working smoke alarms and offer to schedule home safety inspections.

Elk Grove Village Fire Chief Richard Mikel said the program brings critical fire safety education directly into residents’ homes.

“These efforts provide families with greater protection and peace of mind, ensuring they have more opportunities to be alerted in the event of an unexpected fire,” Mikel said.

Gripper said the department adopted the program three years ago.

“It’s a great program because it’s free of cost for our residents,” he said.

The monetary impact to the department is minimal.

“I do most of the installs as part of my daily duties, and then, when we’re doing a blitz, we do pay firefighters to do installs when they’re not on shift,” he said.

Officials from Camp I am Me and the State Fire Marshal’s Office visited the Buffalo Grove Fire Department’s headquarters on Highland Grove Drive on Wednesday. They handed the department a citation recognizing its milestone of 1,000 installations.

The next morning, Gripper drove his van to a home on the Cook County side of Buffalo Grove.

He tested the home’s smoke alarms and replaced two in the upstairs bedroom after noticing they didn’t sound an alarm when tested but set off other units in the home.

“We recommend that people put them in the bedrooms because we all have electronic devices in our bedrooms that can start fires,” he said.

Buffalo Grove Fire Chief Larry Kane said the program enables the department to educate about smoke detectors and spread the word about the department’s initiatives, including the Community Emergency Response Team, which teaches residents about disaster preparedness.

“Aside from the safety portion, creating that safer community, it gets us out there in the community,” Kane said.

szalusky@dailyherald.com