Albemarle Rotary Club donates 50 carbon monoxide alarms to Fire Department

Published 8:51 pm Thursday, February 28, 2019

The Albemarle Rotary Club presented the Fire Department with 50 carbon monoxide alarms during its annual lunch meeting recently.

The alarms were part of a $500 grant that the club used to purchase the alarms.

“The Rotary Club of Albemarle is always looking for ways that we can contribute to our community and the world beyond,” said club president Ray Allen.

The idea for the purchase of either smoke detectors or carbon monoxide alarms originally came from Mike Honeycutt, the club’s sergeant-at-arms, Allen said. This idea was then unanimously approved by the club’s board of directors.

The club then reached out to Fire Marshal Michael Roark and Fire Chief Shawn Oke late last year about the alarm options. The department already had a smoke alarm program, so carbon monoxide alarms made sense.

“We are extremely grateful for the carbon monoxide alarms,” Roark said.

The fire department will donate the alarms free of charge to anyone in the community that needs them.

Unlike smoke, which can be seen and has an odor, there’s no indication carbon monoxide is present until people start exhibiting symptoms, which can then sometimes be too late, Roark said. That’s why the carbon monoxide alarms are important.

About Chris Miller

Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.

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