IAFC Films Public Service Announcements In Irvington

On Wednesday, October 25th, a series of public service announcements regarding the "Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery" fire prevention campaign were filmed the Irvington Fire Department. This is a national home fire safety program sponsored by Energizer Max brand batteries and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). This program urges Americans to change smoke alarm batteries when changing their clocks back to standard time. The Irvington Fire Department was honored to be selected out of more than 5,800 fire departments participating nationwide to be the location used in this year's PSA filming. The spots will be shown on national television and feature President of the IAFC Jim Harmes, Fire Chief of the Grand Blanc (MI) Fire Department, as well as Captain Alberto Olmos of the San Jose (CA) Fire Department, President of the National Association of Hispanic Firefighters. Assistant Chief Ruffler, Fire Prevention Captain Costello, and Lieutenants Pat and Mike Colantuono assisted the film crew throughout the day.

The Irvington Fire Department fully supports the "Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery" fire prevention campaign. While 96% of homes in the US have smoke alarms, upwards of 23% of those do not work, typically due to old batteries. This statistic is especially disturbing when you consider that 80% of fires occur in homes without working smoke alarms and that 83% of civilian fire-related deaths are from home fires.

Chief of Department J.P. Natkin would like to thank the IAFC and Chief Harmes for selecting Irvington to film the public service announcements, as well as Energizer for donating several cases of batteries. These will be passed on to needy senior citizens in Irvington via the Irvington Recreation Department's Senior Center.