Set your clocks back, and check your smoke alarm batteries this weekend!

Tacoma Fire Department urges you to check your smoke alarm batteries when you set your clocks back for Daylight Savings time this weekend.

Smoke alarms most often fail because of missing, dead or disconnected batteries, so maintenance is a simple and effective way to protect your family and reduce home fire deaths.

For best protection, it is recommended that you install alarms utilizing both ionization and photoelectric technology, and ones that have long life 10 year lithium ion batteries.

Visit the United States Fire Administration and National Fire Protection Association for additional information regarding smoke alarm types, installation, maintenance and safety.

Combustibles too close to a heater started house fire on S. Wilkeson St.

Incident Date:  10/31/13
Issuing Officer:  Joe Meinecke
Incident Location:  2106 S. Wilkeson St.
Incident Type:  House Fire

Narrative:  At 6:58 a.m., Firefighters from stations 1,2,4 and 9 responded to a reported residential structure fire.

The first arriving company found heavy flames and smoke showing from the back of the one story approximately 1,000 square foot house. Crews attacked the fire with handlines and searched the structure to confirm no one was trapped inside.

Working smoke alarms alerted the occupants to the fire, and all five were able to escape. Two occupants were evaluated and treated by paramedics and released on-scene. The Red Cross was requested to provide relocation assistance to the two adults and three children displaced in the blaze.

The cause of the fire was bedding too close to a baseboard heater ignited resulting in an estimated $38,000 damage to the building and its contents.

Combustibles near a baseboard heater spark house fire on South "K" Street.

Incident Date:  10/30/13
Issuing Officer:  Joe Meinecke
Incident Location: 7843 S. "K" Street
Incident Type:  Residential House Fire

Narrative:  At 9:15 a.m., Firefighters from stations 1,2,7,8,9,11,15, 61 and 63 responded to a reported fire.

The first arriving company found heavy flames and smoke coming from a single story approximately 1,000 square foot house. Crews attacked the fire with handlines, ventilated the metal roof of the structure to release the heat and smoke, and conducted a search of the house to confirm no one was trapped inside.

The Red Cross was requested to provide relocation assistance for one adult and two children displaced in the incident. The cause of the fire was combustible materials near a baseboard heater igniting, resulting in an estimated $50,000 damage to the building and its contents.

When it comes to heater safety, remember to keep combustibles "three feet from the heat."

Halloween Safety

Everyone loves a good scare on Halloween, but according to our friends at Safe Kids, on average children are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car and killed on Halloween than on any day of the year - now that is scary!

Top Tips

• Decorate costumes and bags with reflective tape or stickers. 
• Since masks can sometimes obstruct a child's vision, try non-toxic face paint and makeup to get the same effect.
• Have kids carry a glow stick or flashlight to help them see and be seen by drivers.