CROSS LANES, W.Va. — The American Red Cross and its partners are installing more smoke alarms in southern West Virginia.
The Red Cross West Virginia Region’s Sound the Alarm campaign resumed Friday with groups fanning out across Kanawha County.
American Red Cross West Virginia Region Chief Executive Officer Erica Mani said it’s the 12th year for the program. She said it was born out of a concern about fire prevention.
“We needed to do something to not just respond to home fires and make sure that people have a place to turn but to do something to make sure we save lives and prevent death and injuries,” Mani said.
Red Cross and its partners have installed nearly 8,000 free smoke alarms in more than 3,300 homes since 2014. Lives have been saved, Mani said.
“We do 10-year lithium-ion battery smoke alarms and it’s cut the risk of death in half,” Mani said. “We know we have saved 163 lives across our region, 14 right here in Kanawha County.”
Mani said they recently heard from a family that had a devastating fire last holiday season. She said they had smoke alarms installed through ‘Sound the Alarm’ in 2017.
“This works and when the folks who have been impacted are saying thank-you—our teams have never felt more heartfelt about this work,” Mani said.
Mani credits Red Cross partners, including Kanawha County, Dow and U.S. Methanol, with helping meet the need. She said they had scheduled installs throughout Kanawha County Friday. She said if anyone else is interested it’s just a call away.
Mani said installation and education doesn’t take much time to do.
“If we have 15 minutes to come in, install the alarms, and give an education briefing, we can make your home tremendously safer in such a short period of time,” Mani said.
This week has been Fire Prevention Week.