Program aims to prevent fire deaths

May 21--North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey delivered smoke alarms and face masks to fire stations in Cleveland and Gaston counties on Wednesday as part of an ongoing effort to make sure homes in rural communities have working smoke detectors.

Polkville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Todd McMurry is grateful for the detectors. After losing three community members last year in fires, he wants to ensure more residents have working smoke detectors.

"I think this will be really good for our community," McMurry said.

Causey delivered the smoke detectors on Wednesday morning to the station. There he spoke with the firefighters about his time as a volunteer firefighter and shared a few jokes and laughs with them.

The smoke alarms will help the fire department prepare for the June 6 kickoff of Smoke Alarm Saturday, now in its third year.

"Three years ago we had 138 fire-related deaths in North Carolina," Causey said.

Causey, who is also the State Fire Marshal, saw this as too many and started Smoke Alarm Saturday. Since then, the number of fire-related deaths has gone down, but he would like to see that number drop even more.

"We have had more than 50 this year. We hope the worst is behind us," he said.

For the program, usually community members apply for a smoke detector and then on a Saturday in June fire departments across the state go to homes to install them. Because of COVID-19, the program will run a little differently.

Departments will be able to hold a Saturday event sometime between June and September to install the alarms. McMurry is eyeing an event in August for Polkville.

Polkville Volunteer Fire Department was not the only county department to get something from the North Carolina Insurance Commissioner.

Lawndale Volunteer Fire Department is the recipient of a $5,000 grant as part of its Rural NC Initiative for 2020. The grant is part of a $500,000 donation from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina to assist rural volunteer fire departments.

The N.C. Department of Insurance's Office of State Fire Marshal, in cooperation with the N.C. State Firefighters Association and N.C. Firefighters Fund, distributed this grant money to 94 departments in 36 rural counties.

Grant awards were made to volunteer fire departments that received less than $50,000 from municipal and county governments. Each $5,000 grant is to be used for safety equipment purchases to help departments protect their firefighters and operate more safely during this coronavirus pandemic.

Most rural volunteer fire departments depend on fundraising events to supplement their government funding. The recent restrictions on public gatherings have limited their ability to raise these funds, Causey said.

Joyce Orlando can be reached at 704-669-3341 or find her on Twitter @Star_J_Orlando.

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