The American Red Cross asks everyone to help Sound the Alarm in Massachusetts on two Saturdays - April 27 and May 4th and be part of the nationwide Red Cross effort to help reduce the number of deaths and injuries from home fires.

The Red Cross invites the public to join the Sound the Alarm home fire safety and smoke alarm installation events. Teams of volunteers will be going door to door in neighborhoods to install free smoke alarms. If you want to help makes homes safer in your community, go to www.SoundTheAlarm.org to sign up for an event near you. Events in Massachusetts will be held:

April 27: Everett and Springfield

May 4: Andover, Lawrence, N. Andover and Springfield

Sound the Alarm are signature events that are part of the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign – a campaign to make homes safer through smoke alarm installation and education. This program is available all year long throughout Massachusetts. If you, or someone you know have no working smoke alarms, please call to make an appointment at 1-800-746-3511. You can also learn more about the Home Fire Campaign here.

If you’re unable to volunteer, you can still help by helping us raise money for this through our Crowdrise site. Please go here and help us raise much needed funds to ensure people get disaster relief.

“Home fires are the biggest disaster threat we face, killing seven people in this country every day,” said Holly Grant, CEO for the American Red Cross in Massachusetts.  “These smoke alarm installations have already saved over 550 lives across the country in homes that previously didn’t have working smoke alarms. Please help us Sound the Alarm by volunteering to install smoke alarms in your community, making a financial contribution, or taking steps to protect your own family from home fires.”

Nationwide, the Red Cross will Sound the Alarm through a series of smoke alarm installation and fire safety events in more than 100 communities. From April 27 through May 12, Red Cross volunteers and partners will install 100,000 free smoke alarms.

The Red Cross responds to nearly 64,000 disasters a year, the majority of which are home fires. Home fires represent a significant threat to our communities, which is why the Red Cross launched the nationwide Home Fire Campaign and rallied an army of volunteers, donors, and partners to canvass high-risk neighborhoods, install free smoke alarms, replace batteries in existing alarms and help families create escape plans.

Please join this important effort. Together, we can Sound the Alarm about fire safety and help save lives.

About the American Red Cross:
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 redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.