SIMON Corbell says specialised smoke alarms will be installed for free in the homes of deaf and hearing impaired Canberrans.

“In conjunction with the ACT Deafness Resource Centre, ACT Fire & Rescue has been able to secure specialised smoke alarms that will be distributed and installed for free over the next week,” Simon said.

“Up to 25 homes have been identified by the Deafness Resource Centre, whose residents aged over 65 do not qualify for support under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

“A working smoke alarm will alert sleeping occupants to a fire and greatly increases the chance of survival. People cannot rely on their sense of smell to wake them if fire breaks out when asleep and a deaf or hearing impaired person cannot hear a normal audio alarm.

“The special smoke alarms have a device that is placed under a pillow or bed and when set off vibrates to wake residents, who are then further alerted by a flashing strobe light.

“The need for these smoke alarms came to the attention of 2016 Community Protection Medal recipient Platoon Station Officer Peter Coble.

“Following an incident where a hearing impaired member of the community didn’t have an adequate smoke detection system, Mr Coble’s Platoon installed one provided free by the Deafness Resource Centre and wrote an instruction manual for installation and use of the alarm.

“Mr Coble made a recommendation to ACTF&R that additional hearing impaired smoke alarms could be purchased and installed in the houses of identified hearing impaired members of the ACT community. In partnership with the Deafness Resource Centre, he and other firefighters will begin to install them in Canberra homes this week.

“I thank all members of ACTF&R and the Deafness Resource Centre for increasing the resilience and fire safety of the ACT community.”