State officials said a recent smoke alarm recall has not affected the "Get Alarmed, TN" program that would allow fire departments to install free smoke alarms to at-risk homes.
Canadian manufacturer Kidde issued a recall on Wednesday for about 452,000 alarms in the U.S. and 40,000 in Canada after discovering that a yellow cap was left covered on a sensor during the manufacturing process.
The cover could prevent it from detecting smoke.
The recall affected Kidde dual-sensor smoke alarm models PI2010 and PI9010 with a date code on the back between September 10, 2016 and October 13, 2017.
The "Get Alarmed, TN" program is a state grant-funded fire safety education and smoke alarm installation program that has distributed 163,000 smoke alarms to more than 500 participating fire departments.
The alarms are also manufactured by Kidde, but a Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance spokesperson said they are not affected since it's a different kind.
"Our alarms are ionization only, and the alarms that are affected are ionization and photo-electric alarms," said communications director Kevin Walters.
The Rutherford County Fire & Rescue Department immediately checked their boxes to make sure they were not the recalled ones.
"We were notified that the dual sensor version of these smoke alarms is under recall with Kidde. We double checked our supply to make sure ours are not, so we want to reassure all homeowners that the ones we come out and provide are not affected by the recall," said Rutherford County Fire & Rescue Administrative Assistant Lisa Sloan.
Sloan still advised homeowners to check their smoke alarms since Kidde could be bought at stores.
"If you find yours is affected by the recall, call us, we'll come out and replace it with one of the free ones provided."
