Please watch your mail for our 2024 fund drive mailer.
Your volunteer firefighters are your neighbors who volunteer their time to serve the community. We respond to your calls for assistance 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in any weather, at any time of the day or night. We also spend numerous hours on training, administrative duties and fundraisers. Although our volunteers’ services are FREE, your generous donation helps to provide the station, fire apparatus and the emergency equipment we use to protect you!

Fire Safety - Do you have Family Insurance?
Every homeowner buys fire insurance in response to the possibility of a fire. None of that money provides any level of protection for the family. Family Insurance is described as a series of smoke detectors that sound the alarm whenever one of the detectors in the series senses smoke. The earliest warning of smoke in the house provides the greatest amount of time to escape. Not knowing there is smoke in the house can lead to a fire.
Adequate Family insurance requires all detectors to be interconnected, and that they be less than 10 years old. Manufacturers of smoke detector only warranty their products for 10 years. Any detectors over 10 years old are subject to failure at the most critical time.
How much have you spent on Fire Insurance in the past 10 years? How much have you spent on Family Insurance in the past 10 years?
Family Insurance is often overlooked and not given the attention it deserves. The costs of Fire Insurance and Family Insurance are not equal, and they are not all financial. For example, how do you put a price on a lost family member?
Wireless, Interconnected smoke detectors cost approximately $50. each, and every room in the house needs one, excluding bathrooms and closets. A typical 4-bedroom home requires 7 detectors; one in each bedroom, one on each floor (including the basement). The total cost is approximately $350. plus, the cost of installation (programming, mounting, proper locations, testing, etc.). If the basement has divided into rooms, finished or unfinished, an interconnected detectors is required for each room. Finally, to complete the requirements for Family Insurance, a single carbon monoxide/smoke detector is added at an additional cost of approximately $40. The price of Family Insurance is approximately 5% of your annual fire insurance premium, when you compare the once every 10-year purchase of detectors (with 10-year batteries, no battery changes for 10 years) vs 10 years of Fire Insurance premiums.
All new homes are required, by fire codes, to be built with interconnected smoke detectors in every bedroom and on each level of the home. If you live in a home built before the adoption of these codes, wireless smoke detectors provide a cost-effective way to upgrade the fire safety of your home to match the safety of a newly-built home. If you presently have a partial hard-wired smoke detection system, many options are available to expand your system using wireless detectors. Choosing the correct detectors for your home may require our help. We will gladly visit your home to determine what detectors are needed. We install the detectors for free if you purchase them.
Smoke is nature's way of providing a pre-fire warning. Smoke must always have a clear path to a detector. Doors block that path. Typical kitchen, dining room and living room areas only require one detector (no doors). When you are asleep, knowing your bedroom detector will alert you of smoke’s presence somewhere in your home, provides a great deal of comfort.
Wireless interconnected technology provides the ability to install Family Insurance in your home. Why buy Fire Insurance and fail to provide Family Insurance? Protect your investment and your family.
Questions or schedule a visit? President93@hartsvillefc.org

Hartsville Fire Company is 100% comprised of volunteer members and assisted by township career firefighters during the weekdays. The funds collected from our fund drive go to service delivery. Please consider supporting us in any way you can. Thank you.