SFMO, Red Cross Join Jefferson Co. Fire Departments to Install Smoke Alarms Nov. 19

The Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) will join forces with nine Jefferson County fire departments and the American Red Cross of Northeast Tennessee to install free smoke alarms in homes throughout Jefferson County on Saturday, November 19, 2016.

Working in conjunction with local residents, organizers hope to reach at least 800 homes during the one-day canvass. The door-to-door event is part of the SFMO’s “Get Alarmed, Tennessee!” program which aims to prevent fire deaths in Tennessee through the provision of smoke alarms and fire prevention education.

“As winter approaches, we historically see a significant spike in residential fires and residential fire fatalities,” said State Fire Marshal and Commerce & Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak. “To reduce the risk of a fire tragedy, it is important to equip your home with working smoke alarms. We are grateful to our partners for helping us install these devices in homes in need throughout the state.”

“Get Alarmed” canvasses have taken place all across the Volunteer State this year, including an event last month in Cheatham County in which the SFMO and partners from the Ashland City Fire Department (FD), Pleasant View FD, Pegram FD, Kingston Springs FD, Red Cross, and the Cheatham County High School football team installed 234 smoke alarms in only three hours.

Since the “Get Alarmed” program’s inception in 2012, the SFMO has distributed over 133,000 smoke alarms statewide to 479 partnering organizations. Smoke alarms installed through the program are credited with saving more than 150 Tennesseans from fire danger so far and helped lower Tennessee’s fire fatality rate to an all-time low in 2015.