Charlene Kimler knows the importance of having smoke alarms and a home fire escape plan. She lost her home to a fire in December 2020, but she and her dog Shaggy evacuated safely.
She credits a smoke alarm, installed by Red Cross volunteers in the summer of 2018, and the home fire safety tips she learned during that visit, for saving her life.
"What I learned was, when that (smoke alarm) goes off, it means get out. If those alarms go off, don't waste a second," she said.
Fire experts agree that people may have as little as two minutes to escape a burning home before it’s too late to get out.
Since 2017, a partnership between the Red Cross and the Barefoot Bay mobile home community in South Brevard County has made more than 1,700 homes safer by installing more than 5,000 free smoke alarms and educating residents about home fire safety.
Efforts like these have helped save at least 849 lives across the U.S. to date, including nine in Central Florida.
Join our national movement to Sound the Alarm. Save a Life. Visit SoundTheAlarm.org.
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