Litchfield Park residents can sign up for a free lockbox program that will give firefighters quick access to enter their homes in the event of a medical emergency without the need to bust down a door or break a window.
The program was originally rolled out in the City of Goodyear, but it was expanded to Litchfield Park about six months ago because it is part of the Goodyear Fire Department's service area, said Michael Brune, fire marshal for Goodyear and Litchfield Park.
The residential lockbox program is free to Goodyear and Litchfield Park residents, Brune said.
Before the program rolled out around 2020, Goodyear firefighters sometimes had to break down a door or window to enter the home of someone with a medical emergency, Brune said.
Such incidents
were "not something that occurs every day," Brune said, but several times a month when firefighters responded to calls in Goodyear and Litchfield Park "somebody had an issue with not being able to get into the door."
"When it does happen, it's generally pretty traumatic for the people that are in the house because now they're worried about people breaking into their house if we had to break a door or a window," Brune said.
How Goodyear's lockbox program works and how to sign up
The residential lockbox program is voluntary and open to all residents, not just seniors.
Litchfield Park and Goodyearresidents can sign up for the program by filling out a program application, according to the cities' websites. Then they can email it to their cities or drop it off at their city halls.
The lockboxes are small rectangular black metal boxes that resemble a chunky Ring doorbell. They have a small circular flap that covers the slot for a master key used to them. Each contains one or two keys to a residence.
Residents with coded door locks can write down the passcode and place it in the lock as well, said Rick White, an administrative assistant with the Goodyear Fire Department who oversees the program in Litchfield Park.
Currently, only Goodyear Fire Department has access to the master keys, Brune said.
The lockbox program does not give the homeowner "lockout service," meaning if a person locks themselves out of their home, the Goodyear Fire Department will not provide them access to their home using the lockbox program, according to the Goodyear and Litchfield Park applications.
The lockboxes are installed next to the front entrance door of the home and are installed by the Goodyear Fire Department unless the homeowner installs it.
The resident needs to provide a dated and signed letter from the property manager if the lockbox is mounted at an apartment complex.
If the lockbox is no longer needed, the Goodyear Fire Department requests that residents remove and return it to be used at another location.
"I personally think that it should be a requirement. When they build a new house, every house should have a lockbox, just like you need to have a toilet, for God's sake," said Mij Charbonneau, an 81-year-old Goodyear resident.
What does a lakeside city Washington have to do with this?
She and her husband Chuck Charbonneau, 85, moved from Renton, Washington, to CantaMia, a 55+ community in Goodyear, in 2020.
The Charbonneaus were big fans of lockbox programs because they had one in their Washington home, Mij Charbonneau said.
In 2008, Chuck Charbonneau had a stroke in their home that left him mute and severely disabled at the time, Mij said.
The firefighters did not have to break into the home but the incident left Mij worried that the local fire department would not be able to get to her husband in time, she said.
"These are precious moments when somebody is doing CPR on somebody in the house and you can see the firemen outside the window and they're trying to get in, but the place is locked up," Mij said.
Her worry led Mij to reach out to the local fire department and ask them what they would do if they could not get into the home during a medical emergency, she said.
The firefighter told Mij, "'Oh, we'll find a way,'" she said. The firefighter implied that they would break down a door or a window if they could not get into the home.
Mij asked the firefighter if there was another, less invasive way. The firefighter told her that the fire department had a lockbox program for strip malls and businesses that allowed first responders to get in quickly in the event of an emergency.
The firefighter researched the program further, and the Charbonneaus got their lockbox, Mij said.
The lockbox gave Mij "peace of mind," she said.
Before they moved into their Goodyear home, Mij asked the fire department if they had a residential lockbox program, she said. Goodyear Fire Department had recently rolled out the program when Mij called them.
Prices of lockboxes have skyrocketed
When Goodyear Fire Department switched from coded lockboxes to boxes with universal keys, the lockboxes with universal keys were $45 per unit, White said.
The cost rose to $65 per unit. Then it rose again, White said.
The lockboxes currently cost $225, White said. He is unsure why prices have skyrocketed since the program was first rolled out.
The Goodyear City Council provided Goodyear fire $10,000 for the program, White said. The program will get another $10,000 from a grant by the Gila River Nation in October, White said.
White and Brune said the rising costs pose challenges to the program and leaves its future in question.
"It causes us to be able to purchase fewer boxes with the monies that we're able to collect. Right now, our demand isn't horribly high so we're still able to keep up demand with the number of boxes that we are able to purchase," Brune said. "But looking at it going forward, what does that look like?"
Brune hopes the fire department does not have to charge customers for the lock boxes but he said it depends on the future of funding for the program.
David Ulloa Jr covers the Southwest Valley communities of Avondale, Buckeye, Goodyear, Litchfield Park and Gila Bend. Reach him at david.ulloa@azcentral.com. Follow him on Instagram & X, formerly Twitter, @davidulloa_ii.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How to get a free lockbox so paramedics don't have to break your door
