Fire safety is sadly never at the top of the “To Do” list for most people, so giveaways and quirky promotions are sometimes the best way to get working
smoke alarms into people’s homes!
This blog is an honourable mention of a few fabulous methods we’ve spotted online to raise awareness in local communities and ensure functioning smoke alarms are fitted and maintained! Of course, they’re not as brilliant as our own highly innovative monthly alarm giveaway on Facebook...but they are pretty good!
First off, a slightly bizarre approach that we noticed was the news that Marco's Pizza customers in Brighton (the one in America, not East Sussex) can earn a free pizza this month if they simply have a working smoke alarm in their home. Yum! However, if the alarms are not working – the disappointment of not stuffing their faces with free Italian bread-based food will be softened by wonderfully helpful firefighters that will be replacing the batteries, giving out new smoke alarms, and offering advice on fire safety.
The waistlines of people in Yorkshire are probably slimmer due to a lack of free pizza intake. However, people were offered free smoke alarms by their local newspaper The Star. 80 readers signed up and snapped up the “freebie” within hours of the launch of a new campaign to help save lives.
Saving the most amusing till last, hats off to Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service who created a Youtube video of the firefighters lip-synching along to a re-worded version of the Sugababes song ‘Push The Button’. The amusing clip has seen well over 31,000 hits from viewers across the world...which advises people to check their alarms are working weekly by...yep, you guessed it...pushing the button!
So, whether it is pizza, prizes, or pop parodies, there are currently a lot more people safer in their homes as a result. Well done to all involved!