NYC to give away 100,000 smoke detectors
Brooklyn Has More Fires than Any Other Borough
Mayor Bill de Blasio and a host of city officials announced on Monday that the city would give away and install 100,000 smoke/carbon monoxide detectors.
The new fire safety program, #GetAlarmedNYC — the largest smoke detector giveaway in the nation, the city said – will target neighborhoods that pose the greatest risks from fire, including many in Brooklyn, which has more fires than any other borough.
The city says the $4 million initiative was spurred by the tragic deaths of seven children, all from the same family, in a fire last March in Council Member Chaim Deutsch’s Midwood district. That fire, on Bedford Avenue, was said to be caused by a hot plate that the family had left turned on overnight to keep food warm during the Jewish Shabbos, when cooking is not allowed.