After a door-to-door survey conducted by members of the fire company and EMS squad, the company applied for a grant in the fire prevention and safety category in the hope of making it possible for every resident in the district to have the proper number of smoke alarms in their homes. It was a success because they were awarded $48,165 for the project.

``It was a pleasant surprise,’’ said Chairman Richard Carr. ``We really were not sure if we would be in the final running or not because we were asking for money for smoke detectors, not a piece of fire equipment.’’

Carr said the fire company will also be contributing about $2,500 of its own money for the project. The company plans to buy more than 1,900 smoke alarms, and the final cost is estimated to be $50,700, according to Jim Wolff, grant writer and fire police lieutenant.

Wolf said the project started last January with the door-to-door survey of houses in the fire district. He said survey conductors visited 28 percent of the residences to test smoke alarms, and the grant was written up based on the data gathered.

``The data we collected was somewhat surprising,’’ said Wolff. ``One might say alarming in that we found that 10 percent of our homes had no smoke alarms at all.’’

Wolff said data also showed although 90 percent of the residences had at least one smoke alarm, 79 percent of those addresses did not have the recommended number of alarms to provide maximum safety.

According to www.nfpa.org/, the recommendation is to have one smoke alarm on every level of each home, including the basement, plus one alarm in or just outside each bedroom.

Residents will be receiving dual sensing alarms that detect both smoke and heat. Wolff said dual sensing alarms add a measure of safety and are an improvement of the single sensing devices.

According to survey data, only 1 percent of the Fly Creek addresses had any dual sensor alarms.

Fire Chief Alan Thayer said fire alarms are life savers and he is happy to be able to provide them to members of the community.

``It’s a great thing for the community,’’ he said.

Wolff said the fire company’s members, all volunteers, are dedicated to saving lives and saving property.

``We firmly believe that fire prevention and education is the first priority to accomplish this goal,’’ he said. ``Smoke alarms have been proven to save lives and save property, and now our community will be better protected.’’

The company is still working out complete details of when and how the smoke alarms will be distributed.

``It will still probably take another month or so before we are ready,’’ said Carr.

Carr said the company still needs to shop around for the best quality alarms for the money they have to spend.

``When we are ready, we will advertise and post lots of signs,’’ he said. ``We will probably designate a specific day to distribute the alarms.’’

Wolff said the alarms will be handed out free, but recipients will need to sign a receipt so the company can document the distribution to the grantor, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA.

Firefighters and EMS personnel have volunteered to assist with the installation of the alarms, particularly for senior residents and anyone needing assistance, said Wolff. He said the company is also asking every recipient to test their alarms monthly and replace the batteries annually.

Wolff said the ``outreach’’ project was a first for the volunteer fire company.

``We are so grateful that our grant request was deemed worthwhile and funded,’’ he said. ``We want our residents to be aware of fire prevention and live safely.’’

According to firegrantsupport.com, FEMA awarded 160 grants this year totaling over $13 million to fire departments throughout the United States. The primary goal of the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical services organizations. Since 2001, AFG has helped firefighters and other first responders to obtain critically needed equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training, and other resources needed to protect the public and emergency personnel from fire and related hazards. The National Preparedness Directorate in the Federal Emergency Management Agency administers the grants in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration.

Wolff said the company’s next outreach program will be based on the theme ``Help Us Find You in an Emergency.’’ He said when the next round of grants open up, in December or January, firefighters and the EMS squad will once again conduct a door-to-door survey and then submit a grant application for uniform reflective address/ house numbering signs for each of the unique 911 addresses in the fire district.

``Before we can help people, we have to find them,’’ he said ``And unfortunately, all too often, it’s a real challenge finding the folks seeking our help. Just from our observation, we know that most houses aren’t using reflective numbers and many don’t have any numbers at all. Our next door-to-door survey will establish the actual need.’’