6abc President and General Manager Bernie Prazenica led the event. He was joined by Action News anchorman Brian Taf, and Action News meteorologist David Murphy. Also on stage was Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayres.
Earlier Wednesday, representatives from 135 fire companies around the tri-state area came to the Philadelphia Fire Academy Wednesday morning for their free smoke alarms, provided through the Operation 6abc Save a Life program.
"We're very fortunate to participate in the smoke detector program because there are so many people in the area who don't realize how important it is to have a smoke detector," said firefighter Patti Kostrueiak of Perkasie, Pa. "They really do save lives."
Volunteers from the Home Depot lined up to stock the trucks. The Home Depot, Toyota and Kidde are all sponsors of the Operation 6abc Save a Life campaign. Kidde is donating 7100 smoke alarms this year alone.
"It's great, it's wonderful," said firefighter Timothy Shuck of Upper Dublin, Pa. "Otherwise we'd have a difficult time getting smoke detectors for our residents."
"I'd like to thank 6abc," said Quareebe Bashir, Fire Director, Trenton, N.J. "This is great. It's definitely needed. The timing is perfect because we actually ran out of smoke detectors, and we were looking for some donations and some sources. So of course channel 6 came to the rescue."
The program started when people at 6abc started asking, "What can we do to help these firefighters who work so hard to help people in the community?" So we stepped up and pitched in.
This program is modeled all across the country, people looking at Operation 6abc Save a Life and saying, "How can we do something like that?"
Something new this year, the smoke detectors being given away don't have to have their batteries replaced for ten years.
