The American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois kicked off Sound the Alarm with the installation of 1,016 smoke alarms in 333 homes across Chicago and Northern Illinois.
In Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, Red Cross volunteers, the Chicago Fire Department and community partners installed over 743 smoke alarms in 243 homes that needed them. Volunteers also provided home fire safety education, including helping residents create fire escape plans.
Meanwhile in Freeport, volunteers with the support of the Freeport Fire Department installed 277 smoke alarms in 90 homes, and shared information with residents about how to keep themselves and their families safe in the event of a fire.
This is part of the American Red Cross effort to install 100,000 smoke alarms nationwide in the next two weeks to reduce deaths and injuries caused by home fires. In Chicago and Northern Illinois, the Red Cross plans to install more than 2,000 smoke alarms in the region, including in the locations listed below:
Saturday, May 11
Rockford – Ken Rock Community Center, 3218 11th St.
Bolingbrook – Bolingbrook High School, 365 Raider Way
Saturday, May 18
Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood – Douglas Park, 1401 S. Sacramento Dr.
Joliet – University of St. Francis (St. Clare Campus), 1550 Plainfield Rd.
Watch this video to see more about “Sound the Alarm.”
Find a link to installation b-roll here.
Residents can schedule a free smoke alarm installation at getasmokealarm.org.
If you like to volunteer and help the Red Cross install free smoke alarms in your community, visit soundthealarm.org/chicago.
In addition, Red Cross volunteers responded to 21 fires from Monday, April 22 to today across the 21-county region, including fires in Dolton, Matteson, Kankakee, Romeoville, Belvidere and 13 of those fires happened in Chicago.
The fires in the past week affected 115 people, including 87 adults and 29 children.
The Red Cross provided resources to help address immediate basic needs of those affected such as temporary housing, food, clothing, comfort kits with toiletry items, information about recovery services and health and mental health services.
The Red Cross responds to nearly 64,000 disasters a year, the majority of which are home fires. Working smoke alarms in a home cut the risk of death by half, and having an escape plan further improves the odds of survival. The Red Cross wants to end these tragedies and save lives, the reason why the organization launched the Home Fire Campaign in 2014.
About the American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois:
The American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois serves 9.5 million people in 21 counties including Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Jo Daviess, LaSalle, Lake, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Putnam, Stephenson, Whiteside, Will and Winnebago. The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit us at redcross.org/il/chicago or visit us on Twitter @ChicagoRedCross.