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Sounding the alarm on the home fire campaign

In addition to providing and installing free smoke alarms, crews also replace batteries in existing alarms, and offer fire prevention and safety education.

BANGOR (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- Across Maine, more than 12,000 free smoke alarms have been installed by the American Red Cross within the past four years.

The Red Cross is teaming up with the Bangor Fire Department this week to offer smoke alarms and installation to area residents completely free of charge.

It's part of their home fire campaign, working to reduce death and injury from home fires by 25% with smoke alarms, according to the American Red Cross of Maine.

The campaign is already attributed with saving eight Mainer's lives over these last four years.

Nationally, one million smoke alarms have already been installed since the campaign's inception in 2014, including 100,000 in at-risk communities across more than 100 cities and towns.

"Without a smoke detector, your chances of surviving a home fire are drastically reduced, so working smoke detectors save lives," said Executive Director of the Northern-Eastern Maine Red Cross, Caroline King. "We want to make sure that every family that needs one, has one, and so our volunteers go out into the community. They bring the step ladder. They bring the electric drill. They put it up for you. They make sure they put it in a place that's not going to go off inadvertently in the wrong time. They work with you to create a fire escape plan from your home."

In addition to providing and installing free smoke alarms, crews also replace batteries in existing alarms, and offer fire prevention and safety education.

Any resident is eligible for this service, no matter if you live in a home that you own, or an apartment that you rent with friends.

Residents in the Bangor area can make an appointment by requesting a smoke alarm here, or by calling the Red Cross at (207) 874-1192, ext. 113.

Crews will be coming door to door and installing the smoke alarms on Saturday, October 27th.

They're hoping to install 100 to 150 smoke alarms on Saturday alone.

Volunteers are happy to come to resident's homes whether they are in need of only one smoke alarm, or many more.

The Red Cross is teaming up with the Brewer Fire Department to offer the same services the following Saturday, November 3rd, just ahead of Daylight Saving Time, which is the national reminder to change your clocks, and your batteries in smoke alarms.

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