Metropolis Fire Chief Micah Tolbert joined us recently to discuss the Updated Illinois Smoke Alarm Law which will go into effect in the state of Illinois in January.
Public Act 100-0200, passed in 2017, requires all Illinois homes to have a smoke alarm with a sealed ten-year battery by Jan. 1, 2023. According to the bill, homeowners without an updated alarm will get a 90-day notice to get a sealed battery model, after those 90 days they can be fined up to $100.
Hear our discussion with Chief Tolbert about the new laws:
Margaret Vaughn, government affairs director for the Illinois Firefighters’ Association and the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance, told NPR Illinois there were 97 house fire deaths in Illinois in 2021. She says nearly 70% of those deaths were in homes without working smoke alarms.
“If they’re not working, they’re not doing any good,” said Vaughn. “And it’s really not so much the burns that are killing people. It’s smoke inhalation and the content of the modern homes is all synthetic materials, a lot of plastics.”
Read Public Act 100-0200 in it’s entirety
Learn more from the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance
Read the NPR Illinois article referenced above
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