CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Charleston Fire Department and American Red Cross representatives visited homes in Charleston’s West Side neighborhood on Wednesday to install smoke detectors in houses without properly working devices.
The effort was part of the American Red Cross’ national Sound the Alarm, Save a Life event. According to Erica Mani, the American Red Cross’ regional CEO, the fire department and organization chose the West Side because of home fire reports and a higher concern from officials about not having functioning smoke alarms.
“It cuts the risk of dying in half if you have working smoke alarms,” she said. “Every eight seconds, the Red Cross is responding to disasters, most commonly home fires. It’s become very important for us to be in preparedness mode to make sure we can help prevent those kinds of fires, losses and tragedies.”
Volunteers left door hangers about contacting the American Red Cross and receiving a smoke detector at residences where no one was home.