Sandwich Fire District offering free smoke detectors to residents

SANDWICH—The Sandwich Fire Protection District is offering to deliver and install free smoke detectors to district residents.

The fire district has obtained the smoke detectors through an American Red Cross program. The detectors will not require replacement batteries for up to 10 years.

The fire district also has information and contacts to obtain bed-shaker smoke alarms for those who are deaf or can’t hear the regular alarms, fire district officials said.

The fire district encourages everyone to have working smoke detectors in their homes and apartments.

Fire district residents who wish to have a smoke detector installed in their home should contact the fire district at its non-emergency phone number: 815-786-9241.

The fire district covers the city of Sandwich as well as a general rural area just north of Sheridan on the south to Chicago Road on the north; and Somonauk Road on the west to East Sandwich Road on the east.

Fire Chief Derek Hagerty said he wants to see smoke alarms installed in every home.

Hagerty said when he’s making ambulance calls in local homes he always looks for smoke detectors.

"I can't help it," he said.

In other fire district news, Hagerty announced that in 2019 the district responded to just under 1,400 fire and ambulance calls, the majority of them by ambulance. He said the number of calls has  been increasing between 100 to 200 calls every year.