SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Keeping families and homes safe. The Central and Northern New York Chapter of the American Red Cross is doing just that through its annual Sound the Alarm campaign.
The American Red Cross is going door-to-door on Syracuse’s near Westside neighborhood on Saturday, May 6th. Roughly 60 volunteers will be installing over 100 free smoke alarms. There’s already 40 appointments in the books for Saturday. Volunteers will install up to three smoke alarms in each home or apartment.
“Every home should have a working smoke detector,” said Lisa Smith, executive director of the Central and Northern New York Chapter of the American Red Cross.
But not everyone does. It’s something Doug North has seen throughout his career. He’s been a volunteer at the Red Cross for 10 years, and is on the Disaster Action Team.
“I get to go out and I actually see the devastation from the fires, and many times as we are interviewing clients to provide assistance to them, you know one of the questions we ask, is did you have smoke alarms and did they go off,” said North.
North says many times they don’t have a smoke alarm or they have one, but it didn’t go off. He says usually that means the batteries are too old.
“A smoke alarm is only good for about 10 years. So smoke alarms more than 10-years-old need to be replaced,” said North.
The smoke alarms that will be installed on Saturday are 10-year battery. Volunteers will also be installing smoke alarms that have a built in strobe light, geared towards the elderly population, as well as bed shakers geared towards the deaf community through a special request.
“The need is out there so we want to make sure we save as many lives as we can,” said Smith.
Volunteers will also be in the Tipperary Hill area.
The Red Cross encourages residents to reach out by phone or email for a home fire safety visit.
Phone: 518-694-5121
Email: preparedness.eny@redcross.org
Click here to learn more.
