FINDLAY, Ohio — Across the United States, seven people die each day in house fires, according to statistics from the American Red Cross.
Since 2014, the Red Cross has worked to offer free smoke detectors for homes that don't have any and installed by volunteers.
And locally, the Red Cross runs its Sound the Alarm event to offer more than 100 smoke detectors in a day.
American Red Cross of North Central Ohio Executive Director Todd James says most of the homes they install new alarms in actually have old ones installed, but have expired and will no longer detect smoke.
"People will test them and they'll still make the noise if they get a fresh battery in them, or we've seen types with a windup alarm, really old ones. But if you test them they'll make a sound," James said. "The problem is, if there was a fire, they wouldn't be able to function the way they're supposed to by detecting the smoke and going off."
But to install more than a hundred new smoke alarms in a single day, the Red Cross needs volunteers to sign up for the big day later this month.
For the folks who need a smoke alarm, they'll be getting one with minimum maintenance required.
"We're installing a 10-year alarm. It's a lithium-ion battery-powered alarm," James said. "It's a solid unit so you can't open it, you don't have to worry about changing the batteries every year."
Red Cross volunteer Steve Mahler says the alarm he helped install in his son's mother-in-law's home in 2019 saved her life during a house fire.
"Very grateful that it did, that the program worked and the technology in the smoke alarm worked, and that everybody was able to get out, that she was able to get out safely," Mahler said.
To kick off "Sound the Alarm," The American Red Cross will be heading to Sandusky on April 22, and then will be in Findlay on April 29.