The American Red Cross is teaming up with community partners to install free smoke alarms during a Sound the Alarm event in Johnston County.
The home fire safety and smoke alarm installation event will take place this Saturday, January 18th, from 8:30am until 4:30pm as part of the national Red Cross Home Fire Campaign to reduce fire deaths and injuries. Red Cross volunteers, members of Smithfield Fire Department, Wilson’s Mills Fire Department, West Johnston High School, Cleveland High School, St. Ann Catholic Church, and partners will canvass neighborhoods to install free smoke alarms, replace batteries in existing alarms, and help families create home fire escape plans.
Services are free and available for all people in need. The breakfast and lunch will be generously provided to volunteers by Cleveland Draft House, Waffle House, and Ugly Mug.
“Home fires are the biggest disaster threat we face in our nation, killing on average seven people every day,” said Barry Porter, Chief Executive Officer of the American Red Cross, Eastern North Carolina Region. “Across the 53 counties served by our region, our Red Cross volunteers responded to 1,377 home fires and other disasters in 2019. One of these events was Hurricane Dorian; the far majority of our responses are to home fires.”
“In Johnston County, Red Cross volunteers responded to 47 home fires in 2019. Please help us Sound the Alarm against these home fire disasters by volunteering or donating to support our lifesaving services,” Porter said.
People interested in requesting a free smoke alarm installation or volunteering for a smoke alarm installation event can register at www.soundthealarm.org/enc or call 919-989-9556.
Since launching the Home Fire Campaign in 2014, the Red Cross and community partners have installed 2 million free smoke alarm in the U.S. In Eastern NC, the Red Cross and local partners installed 5,226 free smoke alarms and made 2,425 households safer from the threat of home fires during 2019. To date, there have 682 lives saved from this initiative nationwide.
In July 2019, two lives were saved in a Jacksonville home fire because of the blaring of smoke alarms in the home, alarms that the Red Cross and our partners installed in 2017.
