More than 200 volunteers with the American Red Cross New Jersey Region, the City of Paterson, Paterson Fire Department, MIRA USA, PSEG, New Jersey State OEM and other community partners joined together to install free smoke alarms for families vulnerable to home fires during Sound the Alarm events on Saturday and Sunday in Paterson, New Jersey. This effort is part of a national Red Cross Sound the Alarm initiative to install 50,000 free smoke alarms in more than 50 at-risk communities across the country in May.

The Red Cross and our partners were out in neighborhoods in Paterson’s 5^th and 4^th Wards, going door-to-door, installing free smoke alarms, teaching fire safety and helping families create home fire escape plans. During the two-day effort, nearly 400 homes were made safer with more than 800 free smoke alarms installed!

The Paterson Fire Department created an exceptional staging area – known as “The Village” – where volunteers were registered, received any necessary training and were placed in teams designated to specific areas within the wards. Firefighters with Paterson Fire Department cooked burgers and hot dogs for the volunteers and plenty of cold water and ice pops were on hand with the weekend’s hot weather.

MORE PHOTOS

RED CROSS CAMPAIGN TO #ENDHOMEFIRES

Sound the Alarm events are part of the Home Fire Campaign, which the Red Cross launched in 2014 to reduce fire deaths and injuries. So far, it has reached more than 1.8 million people and saved 1,275 lives nationwide. In New Jersey, Red Cross and partners have:

• Installed more than 47,000 free smoke alarms,
• Made more than 22,400 households safer,
• Saved 20 lives in New Jersey.

SIMPLE STEPS TO SAVE LIVES

The Red Cross is calling on everyone to take two simple steps that can save lives: practice fire drills at home and check their existing smoke alarms.

There are several things families and individuals can do to increase their chances of surviving a fire:

• Create a home fire escape plan that includes at least two ways to escape each room and a meeting spot to reunite after escaping.
• Practice the plan until everyone can get out in less than two minutes.
• If someone doesn’t have smoke alarms, install them. At a minimum, put one on every level of the home, inside bedrooms and outside sleeping areas. Local building codes vary and there may be additional requirements where someone lives.
• If someone does have alarms, test them today. If they don’t work, replace them.

You can visit redcross.org/SoundTheAlarmNJ to find out more about how to protect yourself and your loved ones from fire, access free fire safety resources, and learn more about the Home Fire Campaign.