Red Cross volunteers will install 10-year smoke alarms in your home for free

Fire experts say you have as little as two minutes to escape a burning home before it’s too late to get out. Having a working smoke alarm is crucial.

Until you hear your smoke alarm beeping because you need to replace the batteries, you probably don’t think about your smoke alarm.

“People feel a lot safer knowing they have working smoke alarms in their home. It’s something that just gets in the background of your home and maybe you don’t think about it a lot but it’s really important to have,” said Madison County Firefighter and Red Cross Volunteer, Sam Paris.

The American Red Cross’s Sound the Alarm program is making it easy for people to not only have working smoke alarms in their home but also to not have to change their batteries for 10 years.

“These alarms I really like, they’re ten-year smoke alarms, the batteries are hardwired into the alarm so you never ever have to replace batteries,” said Paris.

The program allows anyone to sign up and have Red Cross Volunteers come to their home and install free smoke alarms.

“Volunteers will come to your home. We’ll make a quick assessment of your home, take a look around see what smoke alarms you already have, how old they are, if they have batteries, and if they’re working. We can give you new ones if you need them and just start updating your smoke alarms. Then we will also leave you with a small safety presentation, give you some fire safety tips,” said Paris.

It doesn’t matter what kind of home you live in, any home can be involved in a home fire.

“Probably the only time we think about smoke detectors is when that chirp happens when we need to change that battery. So to get ahead of that and to have Sam come install something for you, is a great opportunity to just be safe,” said Ellis Johnston.

All smoke alarms that are installed are donated by the American Red Cross and their partners.

To sign up for the program click here.