Anyone interested in what has been described as "the cheapest life insurance money can buy?"
The product is a working fire alarm.
The observance of Halloween today coincides with the end of daylight savings time, an occurrence fire prevention officials have adopted to remind people to install new batteries in smoke detectors.
Those officials include Rhoda Mae Kerr, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and Jason Turner, division chief of the Jefferson City Fire Department.
Kerr used the quote linking fire alarms to life insurance in a letter to Dear Abby published in Friday's News Tribune. She wrote that house fires in the United States kill an average of eight people daily, and added smoke alarms "are one of the most successful public health innovations in history, but 71 percent of smoke alarms that failed to operate last year had missing, disconnected or dead batteries."
Turner provides simple live-saving tips to protect people and property. They include:
• Place a smoke alarm on every level of a home and outside bedrooms. If bedroom doors are kept closed, place a smoke alarm in each bedroom.
• Check smoke alarms monthly by pushing the test button. If the button cannot be reached easily, use a broom handle.
• Change the batteries in alarms at least once a year, using the change to daylight savings time as a reminder.
• Teach children to recognize the sound of a smoke alarm and to leave the building immediately by crawling low under the smoke.
• If cooking smoke triggers the alarm, do not disable it. Turn on the range fan, open a window or wave a towel near the alarm.
• Do not remove the batteries to put in other appliances such as personal stereos or games.
• Smoke alarms wear out over time. Replace yours if it is 10 years old or more.
• Keep smoke alarms clean. Dust and debris can interfere with their operation. Vacuum over and around your smoke alarm regularly.
• Consider installing a 10-year lithium battery-powered smoke alarm, which is sealed so it cannot be tampered with or opened.
• Hard-wired smoke alarms with battery back-ups need to be tested monthly and batteries replaced yearly.
Anyone needing information about smoke alarms is asked to call the local fire department at 634-6407.
Fire prevention officials estimate working smoke alarms would reduce home-fire fatalities by half, which translates into an average of four lives saved each day in the United States.
That qualifies as simple, reasonable, inexpensive life insurance.