NORTH JERSEY — Low income residents of northern and central New Jersey will be eligible to receive smoke detectors thanks to the donation of 15,000 smoke detectors by WABC-TV Channel 7.
The state Department of Community Affairs’ (DCA) Division of Fire Safety will receive approximately 15,000 smoke detectors from WABC-TV, Channel 7 in New York City as part of the television station’s 13th Annual Operation 7: Save a Life campaign. The Division will help distribute the free smoke alarms to eligible residents in the station’s viewing area, which includes North Jersey and much of Central Jersey.
After receiving the smoke detectors, the Division of Fire Safety will send a notice to fire departments via email, and those departments that choose to participate can come and pick up the detectors. Local firefighters will then hand out the detectors to residents, specifically focusing on senior citizens, lower-income residents, and those households with children.
The campaign has helped distribute hundreds of thousands of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to individuals who otherwise couldn’t afford them. WPVI-TV, Channel 6 – the ABC-affiliated station in Philadelphia – does a similar campaign for communities south of Burlington County.
Since its inception in 1999, Operation 7: Save a Life has distributed more than 615,000 smoke detectors. The smoke detectors are donated by Kidde.– Al Sullivan