Safety concerns

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radfire343

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As a Deputy Fire Marshal I am always looking for a different way to promote fire and general safety in my area. I want to do more for the Deaf/HOH community and am looking for input on ideas. I am going to start working on learning basic sign language so I can communicate. Hope its not too hard to catch on to. :aw:

For my county all of the Deaf or Hard of Hearing children attend elementary, middle and high school in the my city. A couple of years ago we worked with a company to get smoke alarms from Gentac to give to the children at our local schools. We were successful in that we were able to get an alarm for every student with a couple to spare for any new kids.

I am currently working on a program to acquire Weather Alert Radios for the Deaf. One thing that I am trying to find out is how many Deaf or Hard of Hearing there are that live in my city. Is there somewhere to find this information? I am also wondering if one who is deaf can feel it when the outdoor warning sirens are activated.

Any help or thoughts that anyone has are more than welcome. Fire and general safety is a big thing for me and I really want to be able to reach out to the Deaf community.
 
At public schools in my area, the deaf students are given vibrating pagers to wear that activate when the fire alarms go off. I suppose weather alarms could do something similar.

It's hard to get accurate numbers for the deaf population in any community. Schools and social service agencies are sources but those don't include everyone. Audiologists might have some figures.
 
The weather alert radios that I am looking into are a basic midland radio with an output that goes to a vibration unit and a strobe. The main thought for these will be "in home" use.
I wanted to do a project for these because of what I learned about the smoke alarms and I had a feeling weather radios would be the same way. Parents would not purchase them because of the price and justify it by saying that if there was a fire they would just tell their kids to get out of the house. Sounds like a good thought but there are to many possibilities for that to not work.
 
The radio would have to do more than just alert a deaf person. It would have to provide information, too. I think a text weather alert to a cell phone might be more useful because it would also provide details, such as what kind of alert, location covered, and time period covered. I get similar text alerts on my Blackberry for Amber Alerts and college campus emergencies.
 
radfire343 said:
The weather alert radios that I am looking into are a basic midland radio with an output that goes to a vibration unit and a strobe. The main thought for these will be "in home" use.
I wanted to do a project for these because of what I learned about the smoke alarms and I had a feeling weather radios would be the same way. Parents would not purchase them because of the price and justify it by saying that if there was a fire they would just tell their kids to get out of the house. Sounds like a good thought but there are to many possibilities for that to not work.
Click to expand...

COST is a real factor when buying as an individual. I can see how ones with strobes would be somewhat more expensive but what I have seen seems to be out of reason.

I hate to think of how many years ago it was now (because of how time flies) but I got an X10 device that reacts to sound and sends a signal to a wireless receiver that then flashes a number of different lights throughout the house. That x10 sound reactive item is no longer on the market. But . . . as long as it works I can use regular smoke and CD detector to have signal throughout the house.

I have started to look for something for weather but expect to find the same thing.
 
Im not sure if the 2 are the same but the systems that call out "One call or Code Red" have limitations. The text might be different but most phone companies will get bogged down and there can be delays for people to get the information.

The systems for smoke, carbon monoxide, and weather do seem to be way over priced but I guess since it is looked at as a smaller market the companies bump up the prices. There is a system that I found, think it was harris communications, that had smoke, carbon monixde, and weather with a strobe and vibration that could included a carry bag so someone could take it as they traveled or moved. That system cost like $450 or so....WOW.
 
Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

I'm assuming the smoke detectors you are referring to giving the deaf children's families are visual (strobe) or visual/tactile smoke detectors?
(Our schools and public places by law, all have smoke/fire alarms with strobes and sirens)

As for emergency weather information, where I live anyone can sign up for text (and email) weather alerts. Any time there is a weather warning for the area, an automated text &/or email is sent out containing basic info and how to get additional info (online, tty etc). The info is sent at specific intervals until a text is sent saying the danger has passed.

There are also a number of emergency alert apps for computers and cells which are helpful.

For severe weather etc, TV stations also broadcast a weather warning across the bottom of the screen of each channel - it includes the affected area, type of warning, who to contact etc.

Considering many Hoh/d/Deaf children and adults have cell phones with at least text service so they can communicate with their families/friends (if your hoh/d/Deaf, you can't just use a payphone, so you take your phone with you) I'd think the most cost effective thing would be to find or create a text based emergency service and any apps for the local area and get the signup info to all families (hearing and hoh/d/Deaf).

Another idea is to encourage families with hoh/d/Deaf members to contact their local fire dept to let them know there is a hoh/deaf person in the home. This info gets added to their emergency response data and when a call comes connected to that home they are instantly made aware that there are hoh/deaf persons at that address.


Hope that helps
 
Yes, the smoke detectors that we got for the children and their families were Gentac alarms with a built in strobe. They seemed convenient since for power they could be plugged into an outlet instead of having to wire it into the home.

I just found out that our county currently does not have the capability to receive a text message for an emergency call. Very disturbing as this affects near 15,000! It is in the works to go to an enhanced system soon that will allow for that. I guess the only way a deaf person could call 911 now is through someone else. Hope this gets squared away soon.
 
Our state also issues free equipment to deaf residents, including this product:

SCEDP | product guide

It can flash a light and/or shake the bed if it senses one of the household alarms going off.
 
I have a weather alarm system that I ordered thru Harris Communications. It's good for strobe and siren. the transmitter attached with my weather alarm box, when the "Warning" comes up it's start flashing strobe and siren blaring on my main signaler even my bed vibrator. I use the blue led light on my main signaler is a weather alarm and the red led just for fire alarm system my transmitter attached next to the siren box in the bldg hallway.
 
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