Mayor Domenic Sarno invoked the late Dorothy Lee, fatally injured earlier this month when a fire broke out in her Tumbleweed Drive home.
SPRINGFIELD - The name of the late Dorothy Jean Lee, buried today in Oak Grove Cemetery, was invoked on the steps of City Hall as officials stressed the importance of having working smoke detectors in the home.
“God rest her soul,” said Mayor Domenic Sarno as he spoke of Lee, fatally injured when a fire broke out in her Sixteen Acres home in the early morning hours of Aug. 14. Unattended cooking was the cause of the fire.
Lee, 65, a longtime resident of 24 Tumbleweed Drive, did not have any smoke detectors in her home, Dennis Leger, aide to Commissioner Joseph Conant, said.
Sarno said that the presence of working smoke detectors doubles the chances of survival in residential fires. Fire Marshal David Rivera added that 50 percent of the fire deaths that occur in the United States, takes place in the 5 percent of homes that don’t have working smoke detectors.
“The bottom line is that these detectors save lives,” Rivera said.
Sarno, Rivera and others gathered outside City Hall to remind residents of the city’s free smoke alarm detector installation program, available to property owners 60 and older who live in their own properties
Elder Affairs Director Janet Rodriguez Denny said some 5,000 smoke detectors have been installed throughout the city since the program began in 2006.
Fire inspectors visit each home six months after the installation to ensure that the devices are functioning properly, Denny said.
Those interested in participating in the program may call the city’s 311 help line to learn more and set up an installation date.
The city utilizes grant money to pay for the smoke detectors and it recently obtained some 500 of them that are still waiting to be installed, Denny said.
The smoke detectors retail for $14.99 apiece and the average home requires four of them for adequate coverage, Denny said.