The Government’s Central Office of Information recently contacted this blog.  Yep, that’s right.  Lil’ old us.

Brown?  Milliband?  Even Marc Michaels?  No such luck, but we were contacted by a delightfully helpful lady who, for simplicity’s sake, we shall just call Helen. 

The reason for her phone call?  She wanted us to write a post about the Government’s initiative to raise awareness of fire alarms, especially the importance of checking the batteries every week.  Streuth, we check our fire alarm once a year so we went especially red faced as Helen proceeded to tell us that we were a little bit negligent.  As she added, “don’t you know that just one or two breaths of toxic smoke can leave you unconscious?”

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But it was when she talked about hearing aids for the disabled that we perked up.  What we didn’t realise of course is that normal fire alarms don’t work for the severe deaf  – but we couldn’t imagine what devices could possibly replace them.

Enter the COI’s Helen who patiently told us that there are a variety of fire alarms for the disabled.  Our favourite?  The vibrate alarm which you pop under the pillow and which shakes you awake in the same manner as Mickey Rourke did in The Wrestler.  If that wasn’t enough, then the same fire alarm will emit a high intensity strobe light which will make you feel you’re John Travolta in Saturday night fever. 

After that onslaught a house fire would seem tame by comparison but, as this is no joking matter, all we can say is that these fire alarms are a godsend for the UK’s 700,000 severely deaf individuals.

Where can you buy them?  Well, for further advice, why not get a Home Fire Risk Check from your local fire service – simply call the numbers listed.  The Fire Service can then advise you further and tell you where you can get hold of the right fire alarm for you.  Alternatively, if you just want to buy a fire alarm direct, why not call Safelincs? 

Right.  That’s our public broadcast for the day.