The Red Cross said they’ve installed 2.5 million smoke alarms in U.S. homes over the last nine years making one million homes safer in the country. Executive Director of Louisiana Capital Area West Red Cross Ed Bush said it was 2014 when their Home Fire Campaign was launched.
“Overall, our goal is to reduce deaths and injury from home fires. And a great way to do that is to make sure all of these homes are a little bit safer by making sure they have a good working smoke alarm,” said Bush.
In Louisiana, more than 42,000 free smoke alarms have been installed.
In addition to responding to blood supply needs and hurricane recovery, the Red Cross also assists those who’ve been displaced from their home due to a fire. Bush said while the Red Cross is usually reactive to disasters the Home Fire Campaign allows them to be proactive in preventing home fire deaths.
“If they get out of the house because there was a smoke alarm, we’re able to see if it was a Red Cross smoke alarm and we love those stories because that’s a home we’ve made safer. And so far to date, we’ve saved 27 lives,” said Bush.
Bush said the program is open to anyone and if you need a smoke detector visit SoundtheAlarm.org/Louisiana for a free alarm. He said in addition to providing and installing the device they offer education about what to do in case of a fire.
“We’ve also found that if you have a plan the chances of you getting out risk-free and injury-free go up dramatically. So yes, there’s an education side of it as well and we love that side,” said Bush.
The website is SoundtheAlarm.org/Louisiana.
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