DUBLIN, Ga. — Phil Patel owns the Hampton Inn and Suites Hotel in Dublin, but in 2008, he says he almost lost his life after lightning struck his home.
"We were trying to see why smoke alarms were going off and it detected the smoke. The roof was on fire and we didn't know. It saved my life and my wife and my daughter. It saved our lives."
When he's not checking people in, he's ordering dozens of smoke detectors for fire departments in Laurens County. He's been doing this since 2002.
"All these are purchased by the hotel and their given out to the community, people in town, through the fire department."
They're free of charge and Patel says they give out up to 500 smoke detectors a year.
The Dublin Fire Department says they've been giving out even more smoke detectors this week, after a fire killed three people on Sunday night.
Fire Chief Matthew Cutler says the fire was a wake-up call for everyone.
"The gentleman that called that fatal fire in, after the fire, he went home and checked his detectors and found that they were not working," he continues, "Nobody thinks it's ever gonna happen to them until they see it happen to somebody else or somebody close to them is affected."
Cutler says it's best to check your smoke detectors when the time changes twice a year. Smoke detectors normally expire 10 years after installation.