Smoke Alarm Installation Program

Mai County Department of Fire and Public Safety News Release

Maui County Department of Fire and Public Safety, with assistance from and in partnership with various local agencies and businesses, has established a Smoke Alarm Installation Program. The goal of the program is to provide smoke alarms and install them in the homes of the highest risk memebers of the community in Maui County at no cost to residence.

How does the program work?

We will use an application process to determine eligibility. If applicants are eligible, they will be called to arrange an installation day for our trained teams of installers and educators to perform the in-home inspection, education and installation of the alarms. There will be follow-up phone surveys at six-month intervals to check on satisfaction and function of alarms and to impart more education on fire safety.

Firefighters (L to R) Hanale Lindo, Keawe Puhi, Kahana Poepoe, Nate Oshiro, Kekoa Puhi Smoke Alarms for Rose Brito (front).
Photo by Rick Schonely

Preference will be given to applicants that own the home or apartment in whole or in part as state law HRS362 requires landlord to provide in rental units. Prefernce given to at-risk groups like seniors who live alone or with other seniors, seniors who live with family but are financially unable to provide smoke alarms, financially challenged families with small children and people that for whatever reason cannot afford, install or are without working smoke alarms.

How is installation scheduled?

A member of the Smoke Alarm Maui (S.A.M.) team will contact the person/family identified to schedule a day to come to the home and install the alarm. To have a smoke alarm installed, a family member 18 years old or older must be home. On that day, the S.A.M. team will install the smoke alarm and check any smoke alarms they currently may have in the home. Alarms will also be tested to see if they work properly and in-home inspections will be performed with results along with fire safety education given to family. Homeowners have the option to hire https://snagging-lists.co.uk/ to do their full inspection.

Fire safety education

The recipeints of this program are asked to make a commitment to develop a Fire Safety Plan for their residence. Their plan will include drawing and practicing fire escape plans for the residence, setting a meeting place for family members, test their smoke alarms monthly and respond to follow-up surveys. S.A.M. teams will also do home inspections, give fire safety tips and leave behind literature on fire safety.

Criteria for application

To meet the criteria for consideration for smoke detector installation by the S.A.M. Program, the person or persons eligible must:

1. Be at least 18 years old
2. Preference for home owners in whole or in part
3. Do not have a working smoke detector in the home or residence
4. Have smoke alarms over 10 years old
5. Willing to complete a Home Fire Safety Inspection Survey
6. Willing to allow S.A.M. teams to install smoke detectors in the residence
7. Willing to develop a home fire escape plan and practice it regularly
8. Willing to maintain and test installed smoke detector monthly
9. Willing to do follow-up phone surveys of home fire safety every six months

Forms are at the office of aging (Call Rachelle at 553-5241) and the Fire Prevention Bureau – Molokai (Call Rick Schonely at 553-8491).