In 1988, the State of South Carolina kicked off a public fire safety program entitled “Get Alarmed, South Carolina!” The program has been credited in 1990 with helping the State record the lowest number of fire deaths in five years and to begin to reverse a trend in recent years toward higher and higher fire death rates. The story of the “Get Alarmed, South Carolina!” program and other South Carolina public fire safety efforts since 1988 offer lessons which may be helpful to other states.