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giveaway smoke detectors
I had an interesting discussion with a chief when i asked about getting more smoke detectors to give away to needy homes and familys.
He informed me that the department had to stop because of liability issues
When i asked for specifics he said, if the fire department installs a smoke detector in a home and a fire occurs and the alarm does not work properly or if the battery in the device dies and is never replaced and somebody is hurt or killed, the department is liable. "because we installed it"
the second was that the department had to be "permitted" or "licensed" to install smoke detectors
I have never heard of such an occurance and i'm now laughing (but not too loud) because this is america and you can sue a ham sandwich (and win). has anyone else has to stop detector installs because of liability?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris on
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We get smoke detectors from our local Emergency Services Office, which receives them from the State Fire Marshalls Office. We give them out to homeowners but do not install them. I talked with our fire dept. insurance agent and he said that going through the fire marshalls office would help keep us from being liabil. But I'm sure that someone could find a way around that also.
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Permalink Reply by Russ on
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thats what i thought to do at first because my former dept did that. they had to "give us permission to come in and do it"
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thank you chris. i'm just miffed that somebody would sue the FD after "they called us" to put the darn thing in! i guess everyone would be looking for a buck in a recession. thank you for your response
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Permalink Reply by Derek R. on
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Same here. We give them out but do not install them. We'll give them placement ideas, but that's as far as it goes.
Like you said, seems like you can sue a ham sandwich.......
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Permalink Reply by Gregory Borg on
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Russ, My department, Spokane Fire, has been giving away and installing smoke detector for 15 years. We have never encountered a problem. We do charge the property owner if it is a rental after we put them in. Some of the places we go into are so scarey I cannot leave with out installing a smoke detector. We check homes on every call, EMS, lift assist, water job, fires, etc. any reason we go into someone home we check their detectors. We replace batteries, or instal one if needed. Good luck with changing your Chiefs mind.
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Permalink Reply by Fireyladd - Retired Chief Sharp on
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Russ, we stopped installing the smoke detectors too because our insurance advised us to not because of the liability. We put together a liability waver. Our State Fire Marshals Office had a process for a while to distribute Smoke alarms and we were getting them through that. Now we will give people smoke alarms and assist the elderly if necessary.
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