John Iconomopolos would have probably died on Sept. 29 if it wasn't for a smoke alarm.

He was sleeping when the fire began in his home at 28 State St. that afternoon, and the beeping alarm awoke him as the smoke and flames spread through the two-storey home.

Thanks to that alarm, he was able to climb outside to safety, said fire prevention officer John Dunn.

Iconomopoulos will share his story at Tuesday night's city council meeting while TVCogeco cameras are running, to help Welland Fire and Emergency Services launch a renewed effort to promote the use of smoke alarms throughout the city, Dunn added.

He said the fire department has run a smoke alarm awareness program in past years, mandated by the Ontario Fire Marshal. It's a program local firefighters plan to resume in the city.

"We thought, with the relaunch of our program, it would be a good opportunity to highlight the importance of having working smoke alarms with this guy's testimonial," Dunn said. "We thought we'd take advantage of it and invite him in for a quick appearance before council, and let him tell his story."

Iconomopolos has already been working on his own to promote the use of the fire alarms he owes his life to.

Dunn said Iconomopolos called him a few times since the fire, telling him about the success he had getting people to install alarms.

"He was just telling me, 'Hey John, I've been speaking to all my friends and you should see all the people that are going and installing smoke alarms now because of my story,'" Dunn recalled.

"He's kind of been our unofficial spokesman for smoke alarms. It's kind of cool."

Dunn said through the fire department's initiative, firefighters will visit neighbourhoods knocking on doors to talk to residents.

The firefighters will bring a wealth of information about fire prevention with them, and offer to check the resident's smoke alarms if they're invited inside.

"The whole focus is to create awareness within the community, but also to make people aware that No. 1 it's the law to have working smoke alarms, and to make sure that the smoke alarms they do have are working and maintained, and they have batteries," he said.

"Statistics have shown that in 50% of fatal fires, they didn't have smoke alarm activation or detection. It's still a big problem in Ontario."

He said the program is voluntary, and residents don't need to invite the firefighters inside to test their smoke alarms if they don't want to. But even if they just talk to the firefighters at the door, they will still learn a lot about fire prevention.

"We do have care packages that we're going to give everyone."

Dunn reminded people that they need a working fire alarm outside of every sleeping area in the house, and one on each floor of the home.