Firefighters to Help Install Smoke Alarms in Coventry III

Members of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department will be canvassing the Coventry III community of Crofton on Saturday, assisting residents in checking and installing smoke detectors. 

The effort comes after a woman died from injuries sustained in a townhouse fire in the neighborhood on Tuesday.  Fire officials said there were no working smoke detectors in the home. 

Patricia Hart died at a Baltimore hospital after being pulled from the second floor of a townhome on Foxdale Court. She was the third person in Anne Arundel County to die in a fire this year. 

Firefighters will be on hand in the Crofton neighborhood beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday. They will help residents test their smoke alarms and change batteries. They will also provide smoke alarms to those homes that don't have one. 

The fire department warned that 84 percent of fire deaths occur in homes where smoke alarms either weren't installed or weren't working. Smoke alarms should be replaced after 10 years and batteries should be swapped out twice yearly, the department said. 

See also: 

• Woman Dies Following Townhouse Fire
• Odenton Firefighters Perform Door-to-Door Safety Visits