AMI Insurance has donated 1,500 smoke alarms to the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) to mark the start of the agency’s daylight saving campaign.
According to AMI community engagement manager Eve Whitwell, the insurer is proud to donate the smoke alarms to such a good cause.
“Every year, we hear from customers about how devastating house fires can be and the important role smoke alarms play in keeping your whanau safe,” she noted. “We strongly recommend everyone checks their smoke alarms are working so we can help make New Zealand safer.”
On September 28, FENZ Northland area manager Wipari Henwood installed the first of the 1,500 donated smoke alarms in a home in Whangarei. The first 500 will be installed in Northland as part of the home fire safety visits by Fire and Emergency, Habitat for Humanity and iwi organisations: He Iwi Kotahi Tatou Trust Moerewa, Whakawhiti Ora Pai Te Kao and Te Runanga o Te Rawara.
“Northland has many remote, isolated communities,” Henwood said. “By partnering with these organisations, we are able to help people that we would not otherwise be able to reach to protect themselves.
“In the past five and a half years, almost two-thirds of the 659 house fires in Northland occurred in homes without working smoke alarms,” he added.
The remainder of the donated alarms will be distributed throughout the country through the home fire safety visit programme, FENZ added.
