By FireRescue1 Staff
ENCINITAS, Calif. — A fire department used a popular television show’s fiery post-Super Bowl episode to remind residents to check their smoke alarms.
NBC Connecticut reported that the Encinitas created the #SmokeAlarmChallenge on Twitter as a tie-in to the season finale of “This is Us,” which featured a house fire that occurred after the batteries in the family’s smoke alarm went out.
“The last two episodes showed a missing battery in a smoke alarm and the latest episode showed a fire occurring in the home in the evening time when everybody was sleeping, and the fire actually coming up the stairwell and the occupants of the home being greeted with fire at their door, which I tied back to the missing battery in the smoke alarm,” Encinitas Fire Department Senior Deputy Fire Marshal Kerri Berberet said.
https://twitter.com/encinitasfire/status/960182987391299584
The challenge asks Twitter users to take photos of themselves checking their smoke alarms and share them online.
“We’re inviting our Twitter followers to participate in the challenge, not only to recognize the benefits of having a working smoke alarm, but to also challenge them to test the smoke alarm and verify there are batteries in place and that it’s working,” Berberet said.
Berberet added that she appreciates that the writers of the show are raising awareness about the importance of a properly-working smoke detector.
“It’s awesome that they’ve shown that there is no battery present,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of the Twitter chatter, so people are recognizing that they had no battery in their smoke alarm and tying it to the possible reason why.”