Familiarize yourself with your smoke detector and carbon monoxide alarm during Fire Prevention Week:

PARMA, Ohio – Fire prevention week is observed until October 9 across the country. This year’s theme is aimed at making people understand the meaning of the sounds emitted by smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms.

The Parma Fire Department tells residents that it is important to understand the meaning of different sounds. Additionally, firefighters encourage families to establish and practice home safety plans that will ensure all family members can find a way out of the house in an emergency.

Firefighters encourage families to establish and practice home safety plans to ensure all family members can find a way out of the house in an emergency.

Statistics from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) show that house fires killed more than 2,700 people in 2019. Nationwide, fire departments responded to 339,500 house fires that year.

The NFPA has said that working smoke detectors in a home reduce the risk of death in a fire by more than 50%. However, nearly three in five home fire deaths occur in structures without smoke alarms (41%) or smoke alarms that were not working (16%).

The most common reasons smoke detectors do not work include missing or non-functioning power sources, such as missing or disconnected batteries, dead batteries, disconnected wired alarms, or other power issues.

The NFPA offers these tips for knowing what smoke and carbon monoxide alarm sounds mean:

• Smoke detectors – Hear a beep, stand up.
• A continuous series of loud beeps signifies smoke or fire. Get out, call 911 and stay outside.
• A single “beep” every 30 to 60 seconds means the battery is low and needs to be replaced.
• All smoke detectors should be replaced after 10 years.
• Carbon Monoxide (CO) Alarms – Hear a beep, make a change.
• A continuous set of beeps means carbon monoxide is present in the house. Get out, call 911 and stay outside.
• A single “beep” every 30 to 60 seconds means the battery is low and needs to be replaced.
• CO alarms also have “end of life” sounds which vary by manufacturer. If these sounds are heard, it is time to trigger a new CO alarm.

Holiday Notice: Depending on where you live, the public holiday observed on October 11 can be called Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day. But it’s a federal holiday, which means there will be no mail delivery. In addition, federal offices and agencies are closed.

Cuyahoga County offices, including courts and the solid waste district, are closed. Branches of the Cuyahoga County Public Library are open on this day.

Welcome: Lutheran Church of Parma will welcome its new pastor, Reverend Jeffrey Scott Plummer, on October 17th. It will be installed during the 10:20 am service at the church, 5280 Broadview Road, Parma.

Hula for Moola: Independence PTO Elementary School will be hosting a Hawaiian Chic Casino Night on October 16 at the Pokrova Event Center in Seven Hills.

Tickets are on sale until October 13. Cost is $ 45 per person, which includes dinner, open bar (beer and wine), dessert, raffle prizes, casino games, and entertainment. Visit ipspto.com to buy tickets.

Musical interlude: There is still time to buy tickets for the next one Parma Symphony Orchestra 3 p.m. classical music concert Oct. 17 at Valley Forge High School Auditorium, 9999 Independence Blvd., Parma Heights.

The Parma City School District requires masks to be worn when entering and leaving the building.

All tickets are available at the door from 2:30 p.m. or from any member of the orchestra. General admission is $ 10 for adults and $ 5 for students and seniors. Family passes at $ 20 are available for families of up to two adults and their children.

The orchestra is in its 53rd season and consists of 75 members from Greater Cleveland. They meet weekly for rehearsals and present at least four concerts a year.

For more information visit bymasymphony.org or call Joe Germana, business manager, at 440-882-2012.

The Parma Symphony Orchestra is an autonomous community orchestra in cooperation with the schools of the city of Parma.

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