'Very grateful': Milwaukee Fire Department installs smoke alarms for families

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- According to the National Fire Protection Association, between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. are the peak times for house fires to start. With most people asleep during that timeframe, it makes having working smoke detectors all the more important.

As a part of Fire Prevention Week, firefighters from Milwaukee Fire Department's Station 10 spent the afternoon canvassing a neighborhood near the station and installing smoke alarms for families that didn't have them.

"Check the neighborhood. Make sure they have working smoke alarms," Captain Lorenzo Williams explained. "We want to make sure people are aware of what to do and give them a working smoke alarm to prevent and make sure they get out of the house safely."

According to the NFPA, 57% of house fire deaths happen in homes with smoke alarms that didn't work or homes with no alarms at all.

"Sometimes, people have it and they just accidentally took it down," Williams said. "They were cooking, had a little smoke in the kitchen and said, 'I'm going to take it down' and they forgot to put it back up.'"

The firefighters not only installed new alarms for those who needed them, but volunteered to test the already present alarms, too.

For Sonia Robles, a single mother of five, she was grateful for the free service of the MFD.

"There was an incident with a family member that had a fire going on and I looked around and was like, 'Oh my God, we have none (alarms)," and I have kids,' Robles said. "It's a great help. Now I feel safe that my kids are safe."

As for the firefighters, they're grateful to be providing a lifesaving service for members of the community and encourage those at home to make sure your smoke alarms are in working order.

"Do it when the time changes," Williams said. "When the time changes, that's a good time just to check your smoke alarms, make sure they're working, make sure you have one per floor."