By: Teambera Ware

On Saturday, October 5, 2024, the American Red Cross North Texas Region partnered with The Salvation Army and Fort Worth Fire Department to install free smoke alarms during a Sound the Alarm event in the Northside neighborhood of Fort Worth, Texas.

A morning press conference featured Red Cross North Texas Region CEO Linda Braddy, Red Cross DFW Metro West Chapter Executive Director Adolph Aguirre, Red Cross DFW Metro West Chapter Board Chair Matthew Conk, Fort Worth District 2 City Council Member Carlos Flores, Salvation Army Captain Armano Acosta and Fort Worth Fire Department Firefighter and Paramedic Starrett Keele. They spoke about the dangers of home fires and how working smoke alarms can help keep families safe.

"Sound the Alarm is such a critical initiative to help protect families against home fires," Aguirre said. "Home fires claim seven lives a day in the U.S. Today, our goal is to install free smoke alarms in the neighborhood, which can cut the risk of dying in a home fire by half."

REQUEST A FREE SMOKE ALARM INSTALLATION: redcross.org/ntxhms

Red Cross volunteers and local partners went street-by-street, knocking on doors with a smile and installed 61 smoke alarms in 23 homes. Their efforts helped make 93 Northside neighbors safer from home fires. Council Member Flores, who represents Northside, was grateful for the commitment to serve his constituents from area organizations.  

"We're an underserved community, but when we have these collaborations and cooperations by these great organizations, it makes this community better and safer for it," Flores said. "So, my sincere appreciation to the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and our Fort Worth Fire Department. Coming together makes us that much stronger and safer."

Nine-year-old Northside resident Christopher walked over to the staging area at The Salvation Army community center and asked to have smoke alarms installed in his home across the street. Red Cross volunteers Allan Ramos, Stacey Collier and her daughter, Hampton, were quick to help.

Ramos installed two smoke alarms in the small home—one in the bedroom and one in the living room—while Collier helped Christopher and his mother, Ruth, make an escape plan. Ruth, who primarily spoke Spanish, was pleased that the Red Cross could help her and her son.

"I feel happy because my family will be safer," she said.

Teaching children what smoke alarms are, what they sound like and what to do in the event of a fire emergency is a critical part of the Red Cross Home Fire Campaign, along with installing smoke alarms. Since 2014, the Home Fire Campaign has saved at least 2,196 lives nationwide and installed more than 2.6 million free smoke alarms.

Since the start of the Home Fire Campaign, Fort Worth's Red Cross volunteers and community partners, such as the Fort Worth Fire Department, have installed more than 5,125 free smoke alarms in more than 2,400 homes.

"I can't appreciate or stress how much we appreciate working with the American Red Cross," Fort Worth firefighter and paramedic Starrett Keele said. "Without them, the citizens of Fort Worth would be not near as protected, and I love working with them."

Volunteers and community partners, like the fire department and The Salvation Army, make the lifesaving work of the Red Cross possible. Through training and preparedness programs like Sound the Alarm, every partnership helps make communities stronger, safer and more resilient.  

"We love our community," Captain Acosta said. "This is our fourth year here, and we are so happy that we're able to not only bring them a food pantry every other Wednesday and offer character-building programs for our young people in our community but also to be able to actively save lives with this initiative with the Red Cross. We're really happy that we're able to do something like this with everybody."