SHERMAN, Maine — The American Red Cross of Maine and the Sherman Fire Department are teaming up to make town residents safer by installing free smoke alarms in their homes and teaching them about fire safety.
Residents of Sherman can make an appointment for free smoke alarm installation by calling the Red Cross at 874-1192, extension 113, or going to soundthealarm.org/Maine.
Fire safety teams will follow up with the installations on Saturday, Jan. 26.
Home fires kill seven people every day in the United States – more than all other natural disasters combined. 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. Working smoke alarms cut the risk of death by half and an escape plan further improves the odds of survival.
In addition to installing free smoke alarms, the services also include a check of batteries in existing alarms and creating escape plans with residents.
The partnership between the Sherman Fire Department and the Red Cross is part of an ambitious national campaign launched by the Red Cross to reduce home fire deaths by a quarter by 2020.
To prevent these tragedies, the Red Cross launched its Home Fire Campaign in 2014. This work is paying off. At least 486 lives – including those of eight Mainers – have been saved because of these efforts.
