Tennessee Fire Department Installing Alarms for Disabled

The Murfreesboro Fire Department, in Tennessee, has begun installing special alarms for those who have hearing or vision impairments.

Seniors Frank and Marcia Norcom received one of the first alarms called a LifeTone HL 150 “bed shaker.” Murfreesboro Fire Marshal Carl Peas said the alarms work in tandem with standard fire alarms.

The department used a federal grant at the end of 2011 to purchase 100 bed shaker alarms and 100 strobe-light alarms in addition to 2,000 alarms that can detect smoke using two different methods.

Frank Norcom told the Daily News Journal that as soon as he and his wife heard about the special alarms, they wanted one because neither of them hear as well as they used to.