By Peter Currier
The Sun
CHELMSFORD, Mass. — The Chelmsford Fire Department touted a 25% enrollment rate in its “Get Alarmed Chelmsford” program at Chelmsford Commons last month, and a little more than a month later the department has a success story to show for it.
The program is intended to get free smoke and carbon monoxide detectors installed in homes in the Chelmsford Commons neighborhood at 270 Littleton Road, which consists largely of mobile homes. To do so, nine firefighters were deployed in December to install the detectors in participating homes, and to attempt to get more of the residents to sign up. The program was started because of a disproportionately high number of fires and fire deaths in the neighborhood, including a double fatal fire on Oct. 4 of last year.
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One of the alarms installed through that program soon wound up saving a family, the Chelmsford Fire Department said in a statement this week. On Feb. 8 just after 5 a.m., Chelmsford firefighters responded to a report of a fire in Chelmsford Commons. The alarm had already woken up the residents in the burning home, which gave them time to extinguish the flames with water and evacuate, with a Chelmsford Police officer assisting. A 12-year-old girl who was in the home was evaluated by paramedics for smoke inhalation, but she declined treatment.
The responding firefighters had arrived to find the likely cause to have been an electrical outlet in a rear bedroom, which ignited the interior wall. This fire is the first documented save that can be attributed to an alarm installed through “Get Alarmed Chelmsford.”
Residents of 270 Littleton Road who wish to sign up for the program can reach out to Deputy Chief Ryan Houle at 978-250-5268.
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