American Red Cross will install free smoke alarms in Skowhegan

SKOWHEGAN – The American Red Cross will install free smoke alarms and provide fire safety education to Skowhegan residents in their homes Saturday, July 21.
Appointments for the free service can be made by contacting Eric Lynes, Red Cross disaster program manager for Somerset County, at eric.lynes@redcross.org or at 795-4004 x 303.

Home fire safety teams will install free smoke alarms, check batteries in existing alarms and replace them if needed and help residents create escape plans.
“When a home fire strikes, you may have as little as two minutes to make it out safely. That early warning from smoke alarms can make all the difference,” Lynes said. “Working smoke alarms cut the risk of death by half, and an escape plan further improves the odds of survival.”
Home fires kill seven people every day in the United States. Three out of five of those deaths take place in homes where the smoke alarms weren’t working or a where there weren’t any smoke alarms at all.
To prevent these tragedies, the Red Cross launched its Home Fire Campaign in 2014. This work is paying off. At least 444 lives — including those of eight Mainers — have been saved because of these efforts. In Maine, the Red Cross and its partners have installed more than 11,093 free smoke alarms, created more than 2,872 home fire escape plans and made more than 3,384 household safer.
For more information, visit SoundTheAlarm.org/Maine.

A volunteer from the American Red Cross inspects a fire alarm. The Red Cross will install free smoke alarms in Skowhegan July 21. (Submitted photo)