National Association of the Deaf

The Texas legislature recently passed a bill that will require landlords or owners of multi-family residences to provide, upon request, a visual smoke alarm to a deaf or hard of hearing occupant or renter. Although this is great news, it took a tragedy to get the State of Texas to finally take this important step to protect the lives of their deaf and hard of hearing residents.

In 2005, a fire claimed the lives of a young deaf mother and her two small children. Tyrus Burks, his wife Sephra, and their four children were asleep when a fire started in their Dallas apartment due to a faulty power strip. Tyrus and Sephra, who are both deaf, could not hear their fire alarms. Tyrus was able to get two of their children out in time, but Sephra and their two other children perished in the blaze.

Tyrus and his mother spoke passionately before the Texas Senate and House in support of the visual smoke alarm bill. The Texas Legislature was moved by their story and voted to rename the bill to the "Sephra Burks Bill" in honor of Sephra.

The Sephra Burks Bill will take effect on January 1, 2010. After this date, Texas deaf or hard of hearing renters and/or occupants of a multi-family residence may request a visual smoke alarm. Landlords must purchase and install, within a reasonable amount of time and at no cost to the renters, visual smoke alarms in the bedrooms where a deaf or hard of hearing person will be sleeping. Deaf, hard of hearing, and especially deaf-blind people are encouraged to discuss with the landlord the type of visual smoke alarm they may need, which could include bed shakers.

This new law means that Texas joins the ranks of only a few other states with a similar requirement for visual smoke alarms: Washington D.C., Virginia, Maine, and Maryland. Bobbie Beth Scoggins, NAD President, said, “This new law is an important step needed to ensure that deaf and hard of hearing renters have smoke detectors and fire alarms that actually work for them.”