Home fires are the most frequent disaster in the country, claiming seven lives every day in the U.S. But it’s not the large-scale disasters that keep Red Cross volunteers busy day in and day out. Trees uprooted and tossed aside, homes with missing roofs or destroyed by floodwaters. He says usually that means the batteries are too old.When people think of the American Red Cross responding to disasters, they often imagine the aftermath of a massive hurricane or deadly tornado. North says many times they don’t have a smoke alarm or they have one, but it didn’t go off. “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. He’s been a volunteer at the Red Cross for 10 years, and is on the Disaster Action Team. It’s something Doug North has seen throughout his career. “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.īut not everyone does. Volunteers will install up to three smoke alarms in each home or apartment. There’s already 40 appointments in the books for Saturday.

Roughly 60 volunteers will be installing over 100 free smoke alarms. The American Red Cross is going door-to-door on Syracuse’s near Westside neighborhood on Saturday, May 6th. The Central and Northern New York Chapter of the American Red Cross is doing just that through its annual Sound the Alarm campaign. (WSYR-TV) - Keeping families and homes safe.

Download red cross smoke detector form