HARPSWELL

With $2,000 in grant funding, Harpswell is prepared to make sure everyone has the smoke and carbon detectors they need, even if they can’t afford one.

“We do have defined pockets of lower-income census tracts within the community, and I would like to target those that are less fortunate and those where $20 becomes a bit of a hurdle to purchase a smoke detector or a carbon monoxide alarm,” said Harpswell Fire Administrator Arthur Howe.

Through a Community Development Block Grant, the town will purchase smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors for low-income households, which will be installed by the town’s new part-time firefighters. To qualify, Harpswell residents will have to provide some documentation that they are a low-income household, since one of the requirements of the grant is that the funding goes toward helping those individuals.

According to Howe, it’s low income families that are most in need of smoke detectors, since they’re at greater risk of fire.

“Even if you step outside of Harpswell and look at it nationally, the folks that are underserved and have economic hardships are those that are often at the higher risk of the fire profile,” said Howe.

“If we go into a home on a medical call or a fire call and we don’t see detectors in place, we’ll at least mention and market our program,” said Howe. “(We’ll say) if you can get hold of us and provide some limited financial documentation as to your hardship we’d love to come back and put detectors in for you.”

While the town had requested $12,000 in funding in order to serve 150-200 households, Howe said the program will move forward on a smaller scale with the more limited funding. With current funding, Howe estimated that they’d be able to help anywhere from 15 to more than 30 households, depending on how many smoke detectors are in each home.

“Every detector is a step forward,” he said. “(I’m in favor) of making whatever small incremental steps we can take to create a safer community.”

Start-up costs are estimated at just $300 for tools and a step ladder to help with the installation. The smoke detectors themselves cost $25 each, with carbon monoxide detectors priced at $20. Howe said he expected to put two or three smoke detectors into each household that was accepted into the program, along with a combined carbon monoxide and smoke detector priced at $50.

“Ninety-five percent of the cost will be detectors themselves,” said Howe.

According to a report by the National Fire Prevention Association, despite the fact that most homes report having smoke detectors, three out of every five home fire deaths occurred in homes with no smoke detectors or smoke detectors that were not working. The organization recommends having a smoke detector in each bedroom, outside of sleeping areas and on every floor of the house.