New Philly campaign will install free fire alarms in homes without

Free smoke alarms to be installed in Philly homes amid surge in fire deaths

Philadelphia officials are working to install free smoke alarms in residents’ homes as fire deaths surge beyond the number of residents killed at this time last year.

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia City Council and the city’s fire department are working together to install free smoke alarms in residents’ homes as fire deaths surge beyond the number of residents killed at this time last year.

What we know:

A makeshift memorial placed in sorrow, battered by the weather marks a blackened rowhome along the 3000 block of North 4th. Street. 

In March, a fire killed a 6-year-old girl there and took the life of her mother. 

Investigators say there were no smoke detectors to warn of the danger. 

Elena Vazquez, a neighbor, said, "they come around often stand out there with candles and prayers for the family it’s so devastating. Why did this have to happen?"

Investigators argue it didn’t have to happen had there been smoke alarms shrieking into the dark, waking the victims. 

The deaths, two of 13 fire fatalities this year in the city, are four more than last spring.

Jeffrey Thompson leads the Philadelphia Fire Department. 

"Whenever there is a fire fatality, one is too many, not only do we lose lives in fires we also sustain property damage," said Thompson.

Monday at a city firehouse, smoke detectors were displayed as the President of the City Council kicked off a campaign to canvas homes in each of the council districts, installing free alarms if residents don’t have them.

A smoke alarm may have saved the life of 63-year-old Gregory Graham, known as Lucky, also killed in a March fire on Schiller Street. 

Back on North 4th., after the tragedy, firefighters returned to install alarms giving some protection they didn’t have. 

Only providing her first name, Bita says, "we forgot to check up on it. They did wonders. Now I can sleep better knowing that everyone has a fire alarm."