By Kristin Crawford, American Red Cross

“When I woke up and realized my house was full of smoke, I’ve never been more afraid in my life,” said Kristin Myers of Kennewick, Washington. "It was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever gone through." 

In the early hours of Oct. 21, Myers woke around 3 a.m. after falling asleep watching TV on her couch.

“I kept hearing a bleep, bleep, bleep,” she said. “It smelled like smoke.”

At 70 years old, Myers said it was disorienting. It was only when her 11-year-old poodle schnauzer, Shasta, began pawing at her head that she realized something was very wrong.

The bleeping wasn’t coming from one smoke alarm — all four were going off.“It was frantic,” said Myers. Smoke was pushing down on her; it was becoming hard to breathe. The walls of her utility room radiated heat. She knew she had to act. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack. It was terrifying, it was absolutely terrifying to me.” She grabbed her phone and called 911. The Kennewick Fire Department arrived and shut off the home breaker. Although the furnace was destroyed, her home remained largely intact.

“If I would not have had those fire alarms to get me up, I would have slept through it and I wouldn’t be here today talking to you,” Myers said.

Those alarms were installed a year earlier during an American Red Cross Sound the Alarm event in Kennewick. Four Red Cross volunteers knocked on her door and asked if she had working smoke alarms. When she said no, they installed four free of charge.

“When you think of the expense, that would be pretty expensive,” said Myers.

Home fires claim seven lives every day, but having working smoke alarms can cut the risk of death in half. Myers credits these smoke alarms and the Red Cross campaign with saving hers and Shasta’s lives.

Today, the Sound the Alarm promotional magnet still hangs on Myers’ refrigerator, holding up pictures of her grandchildren. A daily reminder of what could have been lost.

Now, she is determined to give back.“I would have slept through it. I would have died from smoke inhalation. There’s no doubt in my mind,” she said. “I mean, it saved my life and now I can volunteer and knock on someone’s door and say ‘this saved my life’.“

You can help save lives too. Join the Red Cross Sound the Alarm campaign to install free smoke alarms, educate residents and help protect families in your community.