[This message has been edited by LP]
...I received a letter yesterday from a Russian woman I hadn't heard from in a few years. While I maintain contact with many former "prospects" this one had given up on MOB men (who can blame her?
and married a local guy. Anyway, it seems my long standing practice of handing out smoke alarms as gifts recently resulted in the saving of three lives during a early morning fire. The lives were not the ones I intended to protect (they were strangers, how that came to be is another story) but it nevertheless made my day.
Anyone who has been to the FSU will understand the value of these gadgets due to the ruthlessness of Soviet urban planning and the crumbling construction, wiring, appliances and smoking habits found in the Stalinese concrete bunkers in which the typical FSU family lives. In this situation a detector has the potential to save more than your loved ones because, once awakened, they can alert occupants of other flats before the (usually) one stairwell becomes blocked. Remember, it's not fire itself that kills. It's usually toxic smoke and you can bet the materials used in these flats for everything from carpets to funiture has not received the same scrutiny as in the US.
For those of you who haven't I urge you to consider these items as gifts even though it's been my experience they're sometimes viewed in the FSU with faint amusmement. Give a decent dual (ionization and photo) unit and explain it's use. Although I usually supply a lithium battery for longevity there are now on the market detectors with battery lifetimes of 10 years. A few are even controllable with TV remotes, a nice feature to have in the sometimes smokey confines (cigarettes, cooking, etc) of an FSU flat. Whatever, this is no time to cheap out.
Yeah, I know. They may get lost, given away, end up in a drawer (do as I and install it for them), run down, or forgotten if the occupants move...but they can and do save lives in the interim. As an aside I've found installing another in the parent's home (which is often a lesser built structure like a dacha, some of which are real tinderboxes) will instantly score points from many directions, especially if they're elderly and have a tendency to view foreigners with suspicion.
So just do it. And when was the last time you checked your own? Don't make me send Fire Marshall Bill over there on a 3 am inspection...
