DALLAS-FORT WORTH (Oct. 7, 2019) — The American Red Cross
DFW urges everyone to practice their home fire escape plans and test their smoke alarms in honor of National Fire Prevention Week October 6-12, 2019. To kickoff Home Fire Prevention Week, on Saturday, October 5th, the Red Cross and the Fort Worth Fire Department installed 209 free smoke alarms and made 148 homes safer in Fort Worth.

PRACTICE YOUR ESCAPE PLAN AND TEST YOUR ALARMS

For free home fire safety resources, visit redcross.org/homefires or download the free Red Cross Emergency App.

Consider the following important tips to make your home and its residents safer.

• Include
  at least two ways to get out of each room in your home fire escape plan.
• Select a meeting spot at a safe distance away from your home where everyone can meet.
• Practice your escape plan until everyone can get out in two minutes or less.
• Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, placing them inside and outside sleeping areas.
• Test smoke alarms monthly and change the batteries at least once a year (if your model requires it).

AMERICAN RED CROSS HOME FIRE CAMPAIGN MARKS FIVE YEARS

Home fires take seven lives each day in the U.S., most often
in homes without working smoke alarms. The Red Cross works with partners to install free smoke alarms in high-risk communities and help families create escape plans through its Home Fire Campaign — which has helped save at least
638 lives across the country since launching in October 2014.

Over the past five years in, the Red Cross DFW and local
partners have:

•  Installed nearly 20,000 free smoke alarms.
• Reached 4,200 children through youth preparedness programs.
• Made 8,200 households safer from the threat of home fires.

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, Facebook and Instagram at @RedCrossNTX.