Free smoke alarms installed in Rose Hill Saturday

ROSE HILL, Kan. (KSNW) – Home fires are the most common disaster in the United States, and the American Red Cross wants to help change that.

“We want to make sure we can prevent as many as possible. We’ve actually installed over 2 million smoke alarms throughout the United States,” said Logan Wright, who is in charge of regional communications for the American Red Cross of Kansas and Oklahoma.

The initiative is called “Sound the Alarm,” and they were in Rose Hill this weekend at multiple locations, offering to help put in smoke alarms.

The free smoke alarm installations in the Rose Hill area were done in memory of the family that was killed in a recent fire in town.

“That family really wants everybody else to know that they can be safe, and the American Red Cross provides an opportunity for free smoke alarms, so it’s as easy as placing a phone call and getting on our list,” Wright said.

The American Red Cross and Butler County Fire District 3 want to make sure you’re also aware of how to check if your smoke alarm is working.

“We have a system called turn and test here at the Red Cross. So every time you turn your clock backward or forwards when the time changes, you test your smoke alarm,” Wright said.

There is also a device made to help wake you up in the event of a fire. If you are hard of hearing, they call it the ‘bed shaker.’

“It’s a device that sits between the mattress and box spring, and when the smoke alarm goes off, it sends a signal to the bed shaker alarm, and it shakes the bed,” home fire campaign lead for the American Red Cross Southeast Kansas chapter John Stinson said.

It helps ensure that everyone has a way of knowing there’s a fire in their home, even if they can’t hear a smoke alarm.

If you don’t have a working smoke alarm in your home, you can call 1-800-RED-CROSS to get one installed for free. The ‘bed shaker’ alarm is also free of charge.

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