VFD ‘Operation Installation’ continues to provide free smoke detectors

Published 7:15 am Sunday, July 27, 2025

By Michael Milliorn

The Victoria Fire Department Fire Marshal’s Office’s incentive program “Operation Installation” continues to provide residents with free smoke detectors and installations. The program, introduced in March, is designed to address home fire safety across the city.

VFD firefighters and the Fire Marshal’s Office will visit homes in the Vista Del Dol neighborhood Saturday, July 26. They will go door-to-door ensuring all residents have working smoke detectors. If a home does not have smoke detectors, VFD will provide and install them for free.

The initiative was implemented to ensure homes and citizens are safe and prepared to face any fire emergencies. Approximately 60 percent of home fire deaths occur in homes without working smoke detectors, according to the Victoria Fire Marshal’s Office.

The Fire Marshal’s Office can provide residents with education on proper smoke detector maintenance as well. Operation Installation will continue throughout the year. Staff will be in the community with smoke detectors August 9 and 23, September 6 and 20, October 18, November 1 and December 6.

Staff provided a total of 22 smoke detectors to residents during their initial Operation Installation run in March. The initiative aims to provide targeted assistance to low to moderate income neighborhoods and areas with a higher number of elderly residents.

“The importance, first and foremost, is to keep our citizens safe, especially if there’s any type of major fire emergency occurring in their home,” Annette Ponce, Victoria fire marshal, said in April. “This allows us to be proactive in the sense that we’re providing this type of safety measure to alert those individuals when there is a fire.”

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    • VFD with local donors to obtain the smoke detectors and distribute them to residents upon request or at community events, such as the Keep Victoria Beautiful neighborhood cleanups, according to a City of Victoria press release.

    Residents who wish to request a smoke detector may contact the Fire Marshal’s Office and give a time for staff to come to their residence and install it.

    Michael Milliorn is a news reporter for the Victoria Advocate. He can be reached at michael.milliorn@vicad.com.

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