Red Cross and Partners Install 1122 Smoke Alarms During Sound the Alarm Event in Charleston

Together with its local fire department partners and volunteers, the American Red Cross of Lowcountry SC installed 1,122 smoke alarms during the Sound the Alarm home fire safety and smoke alarm installation event this past Saturday. The event was held in four communities throughout Charleston County. That number exceeds the goal of 1,000 smoke alarms installed.

Mt. Pleasant resident, Genevieve Habersham, receives a home
fire escape plan from a Red Cross volunteer, Emily.

In addition to installing free smoke alarms, the Red Cross and its partners also replaced batteries in existing alarms and helped families create escape plans. The sponsors included Bank of America, State Farm, G and P Trucking, Elliott Davis, LLC, SC Realtor’s Association, and South of the Border. The Red Cross thanks them all for their participation.

“I am so thankful for our staff members, volunteers and partners who made Saturday’s event incredibly successful,” said Amanda Baldwin, executive director of the Lowcountry SC Chapter. “Throughout the day, I talked to many appreciative residents whose homes are now safer because of the efforts from the Red Cross.”

So far this year in the Lowcountry SC chapter, the Red Cross has provided emergency assistance to 478 people and helped 158 families after a home fire. On average, the Red Cross responds to as many as six home fires every day in South Carolina.

North Charleston resident, Linda Frasier, listens as a Red Cross volunteer from Boeing 

explains the importance of having two ways to exit every room in her home.

Working smoke alarms in a home cut the risk of death by half, and having an escape plan further improves the odds of survival. The Red Cross wants to end these tragedies and save lives, the reason why the organization launched the Home Fire Campaign in 2014.

Across the state, the Campaign is making a difference. As of May 14, the Palmetto SC Region of the Red Cross and its partners across the state have saved at 53 lives.