After several fatal fires this year, Steubenville firefighters are stressing to students the importance of a simple act that can save lives.

The fatal fires had one common factor:

"There hasn't been a working smoke detector in those (fires) that we could verify," said Steubenville Fire Inspector and firefighter Thomas Burchfield. "We want to make sure that everyone has at least one smoke detector on every floor."

As part of National Fire Prevention Week, firefighters in Steubenville are preparing to visit city schools to teach students basic safety skills.

"You want to make sure that in case you're main way is blocked to get out of your house that you have another way, be it a window, back door, some other way out of your house so you have two ways out," Burchfield said.

During the school visits, crews will remind children how to prevent fires.

"You always have the common points: Don't play with matches. If you find a lighter, give it to your parents or an adult," he said.


The fire department is also offering free smoke detectors to the public at the North Fourth Street station.

Fire officials said a general rule for smoke detectors is to change the batteries when you change your clocks to or from daylight savings time.