The town fire marshal’s office has a supply of smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms available for free to residents who are unable to purchase such safety devices, according to Fire Marshal Rich Frampton.

Mr Frampton recently attended the Eighth Annual Operation Save A Life fire safety event, which was held at the Connecticut Fire Academy in Windsor Locks, where he received those alarms for free distribution in Newtown.

The event was sponsored by WTNH-TV, Kidde Fire Safety, The Home Depot, JP Maguire Associates, and the Connecticut Fire Chiefs Association. The event is intended to educate the public about fire safety.

Local residents in need who want a smoke detector or a CO detector for their homes should go to the fire marshal’s office at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street, at Fairfield Hills. The office is open from 8 am to 4:30 pm, Mondays through Fridays. The telephone number is 203-270-4370.

A key component of Operation Save a Life is the distribution of smoke alarms and CO detectors to municipal fire officials for use by families in need, particularly low-income elderly people and other at-risk residents.

At the event, Kidde donated 5,000 of its ten-year sealed battery smoke alarms and 1,000 CO alarms. More than 100 local fire departments in the state plan to distribute those devices.

“Because the battery is sealed inside the ten-year sealed-battery smoke alarms, the hassle of low battery chirps and battery replacement is eliminated for the life of the unit,” according to Operation Save A Life. The unit’s design also reduces the risk of having an inoperable smoke alarm due to a missing battery.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, three out of five home fire deaths occur in homes without alarms or without working alarms, mainly due to dead or missing batteries.