Canby Fire District is committed to making sure no one goes to sleep without a working smoke alarm.  We will provide and install a smoke alarm in your home at no cost to you. Your saftey is our priority.  Because we are limited on the amount of alarms we can purchase each year, we kindly ask that only those with a financial need contact us for an alarm.

Canby Fire crews are more than happy to help ANYONE install or check their current or new smoke alarms or carbon monoxide detectors. Please call our main station at 503-266-5851 to let us know you are interested.

Additional programs

American Red Cross Home Fire Campaign aims to reduce death and injury by installing free smoke alarms in homes that need them.

There are three easy ways to get free smoke alarms installed by trained Red Cross volunteers:

Call: 503-528-5783

Online: www.redcross.org/GetAnAlarm

E-mail: preparedness@redcross.org

This campaign is in partnership with the Office of the State Fire Marshal.

Helpful Resources

Tips on installing and maintaining your smoke alarms

Smoke alarm and carbon monoxide information

Smoke alarm law when selling or renting a home

Smoke Alarm Guide

Smoke Alarm Statistics At-A-Glance

National estimates

The 2023 national estimates for residential building fires and losses show that there were:

• 344,600 fires.
• 2,890 deaths.
• 10,400 injuries.
• $11,266,200,000 in dollar loss.

Overall trends

Overall trends for residential building fires and losses for the 10-year period of 2014 to 2023 show the following:

• A 6% decrease in fires.
• A 5% increase in deaths.
• An 8% decrease in injuries.
• A 25% increase in dollar loss.*

* This overall constant dollar-loss trend takes inflation into account by adjusting each year's dollar loss to its equivalent 2023 value.

(Residential fire estimate summaries (2014-2023)

NFPA reports that 75% of smoke detectors in U.S. homes are not installed to NFPA 72 standards, yet 68% of consumers believe theirs is working even if it is not.

• Smoke alarms were present in three-quarters (74 percent) of the reported home fires from 2018 to 2022. Nearly three out of five (59 percent) home fire deaths were caused by fires in properties with no smoke alarms (43 percent) or smoke alarms that failed to operate (16 percent).
• The death rate per 1,000 home structure fires is approximately 60 percent lower in homes with working smoke alarms than in homes with no alarms or none that operated.
• Of the fire fatalities that occurred in homes with working smoke alarms, 28 percent occurred when the alarm failed to alert occupants and 9 percent occurred when the occupants were alerted but failed to respond.
• Civilians who were fatally injured in homes with working smoke alarms were more likely to have been in the area of origin and involved in the ignition (37 percent). Most victims were escaping (32 percent), sleeping (29 percent), or unable to act (15 percent) at the time of injury.
• Hardwired smoke alarms (with or without battery backup) were found in 50 percent of the reported home fires in properties with smoke alarms; smoke alarms powered by battery were only found in 44 percent of such fires.
• Nearly two-thirds (66 percent) of the fatal injuries from fires in homes with smoke alarms occurred in properties with battery-only powered alarms. When present, hardwired smoke alarms operated in 94 percent of the fires considered large enough to trigger a smoke alarm. Battery-only alarms operated 85 percent of the time. Missing or non-functional power sources, including missing or disconnected batteries, dead batteries, and disconnected hardwired alarms, were the most common factors when smoke alarms failed to operate.
• Compared to reported home fires with no smoke alarms or automatic extinguishing systems (AES) present, the death rate per 1,000 reported fires was as follows:
  • 30 percent lower when battery-powered smoke alarms were present with no AES present.
  • 50 percent lower when smoke alarms with any power source were present with no AES present.
  • 67 percent lower when hardwired smoke alarms were present with no AES present.
  • 71 percent lower when hardwired alarms with a battery were present with no AES present.
  • 90 percent lower when a smoke alarm was present in addition to the presence of an AES.

The calculations above are based solely on the presence of fire protection equipment. The equipment’s operation was not considered.

(Smoke Alarms in US Home Fires report | NFPA)