Excerpts from the dailynorthwestern.com:
The Evanston Fire Department (EFD) and public health officials urged residents to learn about the state’s new smoke detector law, which requires residents to install an alarm with a 10-year sealed battery by 2022.
The EFD worked with the Illinois General Assembly to pass the law because of the number of deaths that occur in Illinois homes without smoke detectors. In 2018, 70 percent of the residential fire deaths were in homes without smoke detectors.
Evanston Fire Chief Brian Scott said that though the number of people killed in fires has decreased in the past, people are more likely to die in a residential fire than they were years ago. The majority of deaths are caused by smoke inhalation, which can be prevented by people escaping faster.
