The Tyler Fire Department left door hangers with a contact number residents can call if they would like a fire alarms installed. (Contributed Photo/ City of Tyler)

The Tyler Fire Department teamed up with the South Tyler Rotary Club, going door-to-door, changing batteries and installing new fire alarms in homes surrounding Caldwell Zoo and Woldert Park to enhance fire safety in the community.

“We’ll be walking door to door, installing free smoke detectors for those that need them, and replacing batteries for those that don’t,” Fire Marshal Joey Hooton said. “Those who are not home, we [have] door hangers…That will give a contact number they can call if they would like one installed at a later date.”

The effort began July 12, continued Friday and will continue once more July 26. The department, in partnership with the American Red Cross and the South Tyler Rotary Club, will perform a Smoke Detector Blitz to install about 200 alarms donated by the club.

The initiative is focusing on this neighborhood after a fire in April that left Mynettea Gilstrap, 68, dead. Hooton said the Gilstrap residence didn’t have any smoke alarms. The blitz allows for the distribution of alarms to prevent deaths from house fires.

The events mark the third blitz the department has conducted, and the public has responded positively.

“The community has been great. The positive comments and pats on the back, we love it. We love interacting with the community in a positive way,” Hooton said. “This is just one way we can get out and talk. If anybody’s got questions, we’re there.”

This initiative is part of prevention, a vital pillar of the fire service. While departments often engage with children through fire safety programs in schools, the blitz allows them to connect directly with parents and adults.

The department aims to outfit as many houses with smoke detectors as possible and answer questions about fire safety.

Tyler resident Timkia Williams needed an alarm installed in her second-story home, so it worked out perfectly that the department was conducting the door-to-door initiative.

“That’s a good thing, especially for the neighborhood,” Williams said. “Some people don’t have fire alarms, but that will help out a lot. Some people don’t have money to go to the store. There are older people in the neighborhood, and maybe they don’t get out to get a fire alarm.”

Williams now has peace of mind knowing that her family and her neighbors are safe at home.

Allowing a group of strangers into one’s home can be nerve-wracking, but Williams said the department was friendly and professional and answered all her questions.

“It’s just our way of helping the public out,” Hooton said. “To try to get a little education out there and prevention and hopefully help a family put a smoke detector in place so in case they do have a house fire, there won’t be an unnecessary death.”