Brookfield Fire Capt. James Williamson, left, holds a smoke detector and T.J. Mohney of Mohney Heating and Cooling Inc., Masury, holds a carbon monoxide detector. The company donated 50 devices to the fire department to be distributed in the community. The donation honors former Fire Chief Keith Barrett, whose jacket is seen between them, and former Assistant Fire Chief Mark Christy, represented by the helmet.
Mohney Heating and Cooling Inc. of Masury has donated 30 smoke detectors and 20 carbon monoxide detectors to the Brookfield Fire Department to aid the department’s fire prevention effort.
Fire Chief David Masirovits said he and his fire prevention officer, Capt. James Williamson, will formulate a plan for their distribution.
“My goal is to target the trailer parks,” Williamson said. “You have zero time in trailers. I feel that’s, from a risk-management standpoint, that’s where our biggest target is right now. A residential home, you have, maybe, four to five minutes to get out. With a trailer, you have literally seconds. The earlier warning the better.”
By building code, new homes must have smoke detectors installed, but Brookfield has many older homes, he said.
“Unfortunately, we’re seeing it where the smoke detector, it’s kind of an afterthought,” Williamson said. “We want to get it out to the people that, Brookfield, Masury, if you need one, contact us. We’ll take care of it. We’ll bring one, and we’ll even educate them.”
“You hear too many stories about house fires and things like that where they didn’t have smoke detectors,” said T.J. Mohney, who works for his parents, Mohney Heating and Cooling founders Tim and Karen Mohney.
“It’s not something you want to hear about, someone dying or someone getting seriously injured for something as simple as a smoke detector,” T.J. Mohney said.
The fire department has seen a decline in carbon monoxide calls, and most of them are false alarms or where minimal carbon monoxide is detected, Masirovits said, but he noted that such calls can be serious.
“We have had some, even since I been here, where families have taken really ill and had to be flown to Pittsburgh and different facilities to treat carbon monoxide poisoning,” he said.
Tim Mohney said he was called to a serious furnace problem recently.
“I was in there 10 minutes and had a headache (from carbon monoxide),” he said.
That’s where the education part of the initiative comes in. Any gas-powered appliance is a potential problem, so residents and landlords need to make sure those appliances are in working order, chimneys and ducts are free of obstructions and filters are clean, Masirovits said.
Williams said he is promoting the “close before you doze” initiative that all bedroom doors be closed during sleep time. Closed doors keep a room cooler in case of fire and block some of the smoke.
“Fire usually doesn’t kill people – it’s the smoke and the chemicals in the smoke,” Williamson said.
It is recommended that smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors be placed on each level of a home, and smoke detectors in each bedroom, Masirovits said.
“If there’s a common hallway with three bedrooms, that equals four smoke detectors – one in the hallway, one in each bedroom, just inside the door,” Masirovits said.
The donation honors two distinguished, former members of the department who have passed on – Fire Chief Keith Barrett and Assistant Fire Chief Mark Christy.
“Brookfield’s been good to us, so we want to try to help out where we can,” T.J. Mohney added.
The Mohneys thanked Masirovits and Brookfield Trustee Dan Suttles, a retired firefighter, with helping them with the purchase, and Mike Lisac of Warehouse Sales in Sharon, who sold the detectors at a discount for a total of $1,100.
“A big thank you from the fire department and the community,” Masirovits said. “This is gonna be a big help to the community and potentially save lives.”
Williamson added: “If one of these saves a life, it’s worth it’s weight in gold.”
Contact the fire department at 330-448-1000 if you would like to receive smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors or both.
Williamson added that the American Red Cross provides devices that shake the bed of people who are hearing-impaired and would not hear smoke or carbon monoxide detectors. Call the fire department for more information, he said.
