Red Cross and Roanoke County Fire Department team up to install working smoke alarms

ROANOKE COUNTY (WSLS 10) - Fire Prevention Week wrapped up Saturday and members of the Red Cross and Roanoke County Fire and Rescue went door to door to check smoke detectors inside homes. Fire fighters said the reason they were checking is because nationwide they said about 3,000 people died in house fires due to detectors not working properly or its too old.

"With the levels of the home we have we're always concerned about something happening in the basement," Deborah Widener, a homeowner said.

Widener mentioned her home was built in the 1960's and she's glad people are coming to make sure the alarms in her home are working.

"It's probably old wiring and everything, you always have to keep track of those kinds of things," she said.

Brian Clingenpeel with the Roanoke County Fire and Rescue said locally they see about 1 person who passes away from house fires every other year, but this year he said there have been so far 4.

"It's been an unusual year for us, that's why this is so crucial for us and why we feel it's so important to be out in the neighborhoods canvassing and making sure people have working smoke alarms," Clingenpeel said.

They said having working smoking alarms doubles your chance of survival during a home fire and Red Cross volunteers agree.

They said they're educating the public about making sure they know to have an exit plan in place in case of a fire.

"It's been awesome, we've had a lot of people we talked to today some people aren't at home we're leaving door hangers to have them contact us if they need those," Paula Poston, with Red Cross said.